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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  145S0 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


n 


D 


D 
D 
D 
D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


□    Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 

□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


D 


Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

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mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
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point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mdthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


I      I    Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

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Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe( 
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I      I    Pages  damaged/ 

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I     y  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


I      I    Pages  detached/ 


D 


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Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materia 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


r~l/  Showthrough/ 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I    Only  edition  available/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  j\t  filmi  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

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26X 

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il<: 


Th«  copy  filmad  h«r«  has  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


L'axamplaira  film*  f ut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
gAnArositA  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacificijtions. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  cr  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion.  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  it*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  compta  tenu  da  la  condition  at 
de  la  nattet*  da  l'axamplaira  ilm*.  at  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Les  examplaires  originaux  dont  la  couvarture  9n 
papier  est  imprimia  sont  filmAs  an  commandant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darniAre  paga  qui  comporta  une  emprainta 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autras  examplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  9n  commen^ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  emprainta 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniire  paga  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  ^^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mithode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

'     3 

4 

5 

6 

"ie 


TH 


\ 


SPEECH 


OP 


GARRETT  DAVIS,  OF  KENTUCKY, 


ON 


♦  r 


THE  OREGON  QUESTION, 


DELIVERED   IN 


THE  HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  FEB.  7,  184^. 


WASHINGTON: 

J.  4  G.  S.  GIDEON,  PRINTERS. 

1846. 


y   *    u  *  .  V 


I  The  H 
Foreign  / 
will  termi 
Lion  of  th 

Mr. 

Mr. 

me  a  si 
and  the 
sideratic 
press,  tc 
tion. 

M  I  stai 
my  opin 
Americj 
long-mo 
be  deci( 
and  just 
their  res 
be  colle( 
member 
nee  ted  \ 
neous  ai 
an  unnt 

i  that  crin 
fact,  in 
shall  kn 
and  met 
false  chi 
ver8y,ar 
be  thro\^ 
its  authc 
stand  to 
sures  ar 
deem  to 
determir 
its  gover 
The  I 
rapid  bi 
Britain  i 

f  All  at 
gress  to 
and  prot 
Oregon , 
then  ref 
ipeople  ( 


1 


' '    ■  I  r 


SPEECH. 


The  House  having  under  consideration  the  joint  resolution  reported  by  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairt,  directing  the  President  to  give  notice  to  Great  Britain  that  the  Uniw.u  States 
will  terminate  the  convention  between  the  two  Governments,  providing  for  the  joint  occupa- 
tion of  the  Oregon  territory,  at  the  expiration  of  twelve  months — 

Mr.  DAVIS,  of  Kentucky,  obtained  the  floor,  and  said — 

J  Mr.  Chairman  :  I  regret  that  the  limit  of  the  hour  rule  will  not  allow 

me  a  sufficient  time  to  present  my  views  upon  this  momentous  question, 
and  the  various  matters  of  interest  which  are  connected  with  it.  This  con- 
eideration  will,  however,  authorize  me,  if  I  prepare  my  remarks  for  the 
press,  to  amplify  on  some  points  of  what  must  now  be  a  hurried  examina- 
tion. 

I  stand  here  as  a  freeman ,  representing  freemen ,  and  I  intend  to  speak 

my  opinions  in  a  spirit  which  becomes  both  them  and  me.     The  whole 

American  people  are  looking  to  Congress  for  information,  for  facts,  upon  thia 

long-mooted  and  intricate  subject.     All  such  questions  must,  sooner  or  late/, 

be  decided  by  public  opinion,  and  that  this  public  opinion  may  be  wisely 

and  justly  formed  and  pronounced,  the  people  should  know  their  truth  and 

^  their  reality.     Here,  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  this  information  is  to 

I  be  collected ,  and  thence  is  to  be  disseminated  throughout  the  nation.     The 

member  of  Congress  who  misrepresents  or  suppresses  important  facts  con- 

I  nected  with  this  exciting  subject,  and  thus  aids  in  the  formfition  of  an  erro- 

^  neous  and  vitious  public  judgment,  which  may  precipitate  the  country  into 

Ian  unnecessary  and  desolating  war,  commits  a  great  crime.     The  guilt  of 
that  crime  shall  not  attach  to  me.    So  far  as  I  can  attain  to  the  truth,  in 
fact,  in  public  law,  in  argument  and  deduction,  my  constituency  at  least 
I  shall  know  it;  and  I  intend  here,  in  my  place,  to  declare  it  to  the  country, 
■  and  meet  all  the  responsibility  which  may  await  me.     Even  if  the  foul  and 
false  charge  of  sympathizing  with  a  foreign  people  in  this  Oregon  contro- 
>•  ver8y,and  being  impelled  to  it  by  excess  of  opposition  to  the  Administration, 
f  be  thrown  at  me,  I  will  not  shrink  from  my  task,  but  will  alike  scorn  it  and 
its  authors.     No  such  denunciation  will  deter  me  from  doing  what  I  under- 
stand to  be  my  duty.    So  long  as  the  question  is  what  shall  be  the  mea- 
sures and  relations  of  our  country  with  others,  I  will  support  such  as  I 
deem  to  be  just,  wise,  and  politic  ;  when  those  measures  and  relations  are 
determined  upon,  I  stand  by  my  country,  and  those  vv^ho  are  charged  \yith 
its  government,  be  they  right  or  be  they  wrong. 

The  President,  in  his  message  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  gives  a 

rapid  but  clear  history  of  the  diplomacy  of  the  United  States  and  Great 

Britain  in  relation  to  Oregon ;  upon  which  he  comes  to  this  conclusion : 

*' All  attempts  at  compromise  having  failed,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  Con- 

Mgress  to  consider  what  measures  it  may  be  proper  to  adopt  for  the  security 

nd  protection  of  our  citizens  now  inhabiting,  or  who  may  hereafter  inhabit, 

>egon,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  our  just  title  to  that  territory."    He 

hen  refers  to  the  treaty  between  the  two  countries  which  secures  to  the 

ople  of  both  the  temporary  right  of  free  access  to  all  Oregon,  and 


5  I.  rr-v 


particularly  to  the  article  which  provides  that  either  party  may  termi- 
nate it  by  giving  the  other  twelve  months'  notice.  The  President  adds, 
"  this  notice  it  would  in  my  judgment  be  proper  to  give  ;"  and  he  recom- 
mends that  "  provision  may  be  made  by  law  for  giving  it  accordingly,  and 
terminating  the  convention  of  the  6th  of  August,  1827."  He  states  and 
admits  the  inhibition  which  this  convention  creates  to  the  full  and  proper 
legislation  of  Congress  for  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  our  rights  to 
Oregon ,  as  he  seta  them  forth  ;  and  then  clearly  indicates  his  future  policy 
in  this  significant  paragraph:  ''At  the  end  of  the  year's  notice,  should 
Congress  think  it  proper  to  make  provision  for  giving  that  notice,  we  shall 
have  reached  a  period  when  the  national  rights  in  Oregon  must  either  be 
abandoned  or  firmly  maintained.  That  they  cannot  be  abandoned  without 
a  sacrifice  of  both  national  honor  and  interest,  is  too  clear  to  admit  of 
doubt."  He  recommends  at  once  the  extension  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  over  American  citizens  in  Oregon. 

The  language  of  the  President  upon  this  subject  is  explicit.  His  position 
is,  that  our  title  to  the  whole  of  Oregon  is  clear  and  indisputable,  and  that 
he  has  demonstrated  it  so  to  be  ;  that  all  eflbrts  to  negotiate  a  compromise 
of  the  controversy  have  failed,  and  it  was  manifest  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment would  not  concede  any  terms  which  ours  ought  to  accept ;  that  the 
subsisting  convention  between  the  two  countries  was  the  obstacle  to  mea- 
sures necessary  to  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  our  rights,  and  ought 
therefore  to  be  terminated  ;  and  that,  at  the  termination  of  the  twelve 
months,  when  the  consummation  of  this  notice  would  have  abrogated  the 
convention,  unless  Congress  should  then  firmly  maintain  the  right  of  the 
United  States  to  all  Oregon,  it  would  undoubtedly  be  guilty  of  a  sacrifice  of 
national  interest  and  honor. 

England  claims  to  have  as  much  right  to  all  Oregon  as  she  concedes  to 
the  United  States  ;  that  it  is  a  vacant  unappropriated  country,  and  open  to 
the  people  of  all  the  world.  Her  Government  has  repeatedly  refused  the 
proposition  of  ours  to  divide  Oregon  between  them  substantially  by  the  49th 
parallel.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  in  46°  16',  to  the  line  54° 
41',  to  which  we  claim  as  our  northern  boundary,  there  is  not  an  American 
emigrant ;  and  within  that  area  there  are  twenty-three  armed  British  posts, 
belonging  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  This  fact  is  well  known  to  Mr. 
Polk.  The  English  Government  has  contended  inflexibly,  in  all  its  nego- 
tiations with  previous  Administrations,  as  well  as  with  Mr.  Polk,  that  their 
rights  in  part  of  Oregon  are  superior  to  those  of  the  United  States ;  and  he 
has  seen  the  solemn  annunciation  of  that  Government  to  the  world  that  it  is 
prepared  and  determined  to  maintain  them.  In  view  of  the  failure  of  all 
attempts  to  adjust  the  dispute  by  negotiation,  of  the  rejection  by  our  Gov- 
ernment of  the  British  proposition  to  refer  it  to  arbitration,  and  of  the  notice 
being  given,  he  means,  and  in  substance  recommends,  that  we  then  proceed 
to  assert  our  right  to  the  whole  of  Oregon, and  establish  our  jurisdiction  and 
laws  over  it.  This  can  only  be  eff*ected  by  the  expulsion  or  subjugation  of 
the  British  power  in  Oregon,  and  then  comes  the  shock  of  arms. 

Now,  understanding  the  President's  purposes  and  line  of  policy,  it  seems 
to  me  that  every  gentleman  who  supports  the  resolution  for  this  notice  adopts 
his  position,  that  our  title  to  all  Oregon  is  clear  and  perfect;  acquiesces  in 
his  conclusion  that  all  aUempts  to  settle  the  controversy  by  compromise  have 
failed  ;  and  pledges  himself  to  go  with  the  President  at  the  termination  of 


ing 


ay  termi- 
]ent  adds, 
le  recom- 
ngly,and 
states  and 
nd  proper 
r  rights  to 
ure  policy 
:e,  should 
,  we  shall 
t  either  be 
id  without 
I  admit  of 
he  United 

is  position 
! ,  and  that 
)mpronii8e 
h  Govern- 
, ;  that  the 
e  to  mea- 
and  ought 
he  twelve 
ogated  the 
ight  of  the 
sacrifice  of 

)ncedes  to 

id  open  to 

efused  the 

y  the  49th 

line  540 

American 

tish  posts, 

wn  to  Mr. 

I  its  nego- 

that  their 

s ;  and  he 

d  that  it  is 

lure  of  all 

'  our  Gov- 

the  notice 

sn  proceed 

iction  and 

ugation  of 

it  seems 
ice  adopts 
uiesces  in 
mise  have 
nation  of 


the  notice,  to  assert  our  indisputable  right  to  all  Oregon  at  the  point  of  the 
sword.  Such  is  what  the  President  contemplates,  judging  from  the  lan- 
guage of  his  message  ;  and,  unless  he  bo  a  niere  political  trickster,  he  means 
nothing  short  of  it. 

Jf  this  notice  be  so  formally  given  by  the  concurrence  of  the  legislative 
and  executive  branches  of  the  Government,  after  this  explicit  declaration  by 
the  President  of  what  he  intends  it  to  lead  to,  and  tlie  dispute  should  not  be 
amicably  settled  before  the  expiration  of  the  twelve  months,  national  honor 
would  forbid  Congress  then  to  remain  passive.  The  solemnity  of  such  a 
notice  would  l)e  an  annunciation  to  England,  and  to  the  world,  that  it  was 
to  be  followed  up  by  other  and  viijorous  measures;  and  when  the  crisis 
comes,  to  pause  would  justly  sul»ject  us  to  universal  derision  and  contempt. 
The  President  would  revolt  at  his  administration  and  the  country  being 
placed  in  any  such  humiliating  position,  and  would  unquestionably  prefer 
that  the  notice  should  not  be  given.  He  and  the  public  will  regard,  and 
will  have  the  right  to  regard,  the  support  of  this,  the  first  in  his  series  of 
measures, as  a  committal  to  the  whole.  He  recommends  a  particular  course 
of  policy,  which  cannot  be  adopted  unless  this  first  measure  succeeds.  Gen- 
tlemen who  condenm  what  is  to  follow  ought  to  make  their  opposition  to  it 
certain  and  etfective,  by  the  defeat  of  the  initiatory  measure.  They  should 
pause  and  carefully  examine  the  ground  which  the  President  occupies,  and 
the  probable  consequences,  before  they  link  themselves  to  him  on  it.  Be- 
yond all  question  they  ought  to  be  satisfied  that  it  is  both  just  and  wise. 

At  the  threshold,  we  ask  ourselves  why  has  the  President  appealed  to  Con- 
gress to  pass  a  law  authorizing  him  to  give  this  notice?  What  is  the  proper  au- 
thority to  give  it?  With  the  exception  of  declaring  war  and  regulating  com- 
merce with  foreign  nations.  Congress  is  vested  only  with  the  power  of  in- 
ternal legislation.  The  operation  of  this  notice  will  be  external,  interna- 
tional, and  its  subject  an  existing  treaty  between  our  Government  and  a  for- 
eign country.  That  treaty  itself  provides  for  this  notice,  and  without  such 
provision  it  could  not  be  given.  The  power  to  give  it  is  the  joint  creation 
of  the  treaty-making  authorities  of  two  sovereign  and  independent  nations. 
It  was  necessary  that  both  England  and  the  United  States  should  concur  in 
constituting  the  right  to  give  this  notice;  because,  acting  upon  and  binding 
both,  all  the  authority  of  either  would  have  been  insufficient  to  that  end. 
To  give  the  notice  is  not  an  act  of  legislation ,  but  the  exercise  of  the  treaty- 
making  function.  The  President  and  the  Senate  could,  with  the  consent 
of  England,  add  a  provision  to  this  treaty  declaring  the  clause  that  autho- 
rizes this  notice  to  be  given  void  and  inoperative  ;  and  the  Jiame  authority 
could,  when  it  was  negotiated ,  and  can  at  any  time,  add  a  provision  making 
it  a  treaty  to  continue  twelve  months.  Now,  it  is  a  treaty  of  indefinite  con- 
tinuance,  with  a  clause  that  either  party  may  so  far  alter  it  aS  to  make  it  a 
treaty  to  exist  from  the  time  of  such  change  for  twelve  months;  and  to  this 
provision,  thus  authorizing  it  to  be  modified,  both  nations  have  consented, 
as  they  have  to  all  its  other  stipulations.  Instead  of  being  the  complete  and 
final  action  of  the  treaty-making  power  of  the  two  nations  at  the  time  it  was 
signed,  it  is  there  agreed  that  each  reserves  the  right,  and  is  to  have  the 
power,  at  any  future  time,  to  modify  the  treaty  as  it  was  then  drawn  up  in 
a  single  feature;  and  that  is,  to  provide  that  the  treaty,  instead  of  continu- 
ing for  an  indefinite  time,f?hould  exist  but  for  twelvemonths.  How  is 
Congress  clothed  with  authority  to  execute  this  suspended  will  of  the  treaty- 


I 


I 


■making  power?  Where  is  our  warrant  for  adding:  substantially  a  new  article 
to  this  treaty  to  change  the  effect  of  an  existing  one?  Tlie  office  of  Con- 
gress is  to  enact  laws,  not  to  make  or  modify  treaties  with  foreign  nations. 
It  does  not  and  cannot  act  in  concert  and  covenant  with  any  foreign  autho- 
rity. All  die  validity  and  effect  of  its  action  results  from  its  own  properly 
published  will.  The  operation  of  the  treaty-making  power  is  different,  for 
It  proceeds  in  conjunction  with  the  (iovernmenis  of  other  countries,  and 
can  produce  nothing  without  them.  It  is  made  and  constituted  to  act  with 
them,  and  cannot  act  without  them.  If  Congress  could  authorize  and  re- 
quire this  notice  to  be  given  by  its  law,  it  could  do  so  of  its  own  unaided 
will.  The  giving  of  it  is  the  enianation  of  two  wills — of  the  treaty-making 
power  of  both  England  and  the  United  States.  The  will  of  each  has  in 
part  acted  beforehand,  and  been  expressed.  Each  has  stipulated  that  this 
notice  shall  be  given  and  be  obligatory  upon  her  on  the  happening  of  a  con- 
dition; which  is,  that  the  other  shall  decide  to  give  it.  The  efficiency  of 
the  notice,  if  our  authorities  should  decide  to  give  it ,  will  result  as  much 
from  the  (jJovernment  of  England  as  of  the  United  States.  If  the  notice 
'«hould  come  from  that  Power,  its  force  will  emanate  equally  from  our  Pre- 
isident  and  Senate  as  from  her  King.  The  concurrence  of  both  will  have 
been  indispensable. 

It  will  not  be  contended  that  both  the  law-making  and  treaty -making 
powers  in  our  Government  can  decide  that  this  notice  e^hall  be  given.  It  is 
the  business  ot  one  and  not  the  other,  and  cannot  belong  to  both.  If  the 
President  and  the  Senate  were  to  niake  a  formal  treaty  with  England  that 
this  notice  should  be  given,  the  validity  of  such  a  stipulation  could  not  be 
doubted.  If  the  same  authority  were  to  make  an  arrangement  to  expunge 
the  article  providing  for  the  notice  from  the  treaty,  all  will  concede  that  the 
treaty  would  become  absolute.  A  like  modification  to  postpone  the  notice 
for  twenty  years,  or  any  length  of  time,  would  be  of  the  same  unequivocal 
authority.  The  treaty-making  power  provided  originally  for  this  notice, 
and  it  alone  was  competent  to  that  purix)se.  It  may  give  the  notice,  may 
eradicate  it  entirely  from  the  treaty,  may  postpone  it  or  modify  it  in  any 
possible  form.  It  has  all  power  over  the  subject;  Congress,  in  truth,  has 
none.  To  give  the  notice  would  be,  in  substance  and  effect,  and  notliing 
more,  than  to  modify  the  existing  convention,  to  make  it  continue  twelve 
months  instead  of  an  indefinite  time.  That  proposition  alone  refutes  the 
jurisdiction  of  Congress  over  the  subject. 

I  do  not  intend  to  controvert  the  position  that  Congress  might  abrogate 
this  treaty  by  a«declaration  of  war.  I  concede  also,  that  when  one  nation 
violates  or  disregards  its  treaty  obligations  in  a  substantial  point,  the  treaty 
becomes  forfeited,  and  the  other  party  may  declare  herself  absolved  from 
the  further  observance  of  it.  These  are  undeniable  principles  of  national 
law,  but  they  do  not  touch  the  present  question.  The  position  of  the  gen- 
tleman from  Illinois,  (Mr.  McClernand,)  that  Congress  can  abrogate  a 
treaty,  is  unsupported  both  by  authority  and  morality.  One  nation  has  no 
more  right  or  power  to  renounce  its  treaty  than  an  individual  has  to  repu- 
diate his  contract. 

I  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion,  Mr.  Speaker,  than  that  the  giving  of 
this  notice  is  not  a  legislative  act,  but  purely  executive;  and,  under  our 
Constitution,  is  referrible  to  the  President  and  the  Senate,  as  the  sole  depo- 
itttaries  of  the  treaty-making  power.    If  the  President  had  made  a  coufi- 


I 


a  new  article 
Hce  of  Con- 
ign  nations, 
reign  aiulio- 
wn  properly 
ililFerenl,  for 
[intriesi,  and 
1  to  act  witli 
rize  and  re- 
vvn  unaided 
L'aty-making 
each  l:as  in 
ed  that  this 
ing  of  a  con- 
eflicicncy  of 
It  as  much 
f  tlie  notice 
3ni  our  Pre- 
li  will  liave 

eatvniaking 
jiven.  It  is 
)th.  If  the 
Ingland  that 
;ouId  not  be 

to  expunge 
ede  that  the 
e  the  notice 

inequivocal 

this  notice, 
notice,  may 
it  in  any 
truth,  has 
nd  notiiing 
nue  twelve 

refutes  the 

It  abrogate 
one  nation 
,  the  treaty 
olved  from 
of  national 
of  the  gen- 
abrogate  a 
tion  has  no 
as  to  repu- 

e  giving  of 
under  our 
sole  depo- 

le  a  coufi- 


y 


dential  executive  communication  to  the  Senate,  and  had  recommended  to 
that  body  to  concur  with  him  in  giving  the  notice,  and  two-thirds  had  so 
advised  him ,  it  will  not  be  controverted  that  he  might  constitutionally  and 
properly  have  given  it  without  even  communicating  with  the  House  upon 
tlie  subject.  It  is  fit,  as  well  as  constitutional,  that  it  should  be  so.  The 
Senate  are  the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  President  about  all  such  mat- 
ters. Not  so  the  House.  He  has  secret  confidential  relations  with  them  in 
all  transactions  relating  to  subjects  of  this  character;  not  with  us.  He  may 
properly  go  to  the  Senate  for  counsel  upon  this  subject  of  notice.  To  give 
an  enlightened  and  just  dccis^ion  upon  it,  the  authentic  and  exact  state  of 
the  negotiations  and  diplomatic  correspondence  between  the  two  countries 
sho\dd  be  known.  The  whole  of  this  the  President  woidd  be  required  to 
send  up  to  the  Senate.  All  protocols,  papers,  and  notes  exchanged,  all 
propositions  pending  and  rejected,  verbal  or  wriuen,ihe  entire  budget  of 
ijiformation  relating  to  this  subject  which  the  President  possessed,  he  would 
l>e  and  ought  to  be  required  to  lay  before  the  Senate,  that  they,  being  co- 
ordinate constitutional  powers,  might  enter  upon  the  solution  of  a  question 
over  which  they  held  concurrent  jurisdiction,  each  possessed  of  the  same 
amplitude  of  information.  How  stands  the  case  with  this  House?  Until 
within  the  last  few  hours,  the  only  information  upon  the  subject  which  we 
have  possessed  is  what  was  communicated  in  the  documents  accompanying 
the  President's  message  at  the  beginning  of  the  session ,  and  what  was  pre- 
viously before  the  world.  We  have  been  considering  this  great  subject,  in- 
volving, as  most  persons  think,  the  issues  of  peace  and  war,  upon  the  invi- 
tation of  the  President  for  more  than  a  month.  We  have  no  communica- 
tion from  him  during  the  greater  part  of  this  period.  About  a  week  since, 
nte fibers  of  this  House  heard,  by  rumor,  that  diplomatic  intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  Governments  had  been  resumed.  A  call  is  made  upon  the 
President  for  this  correspondence;  and  only  to-day,  a  few  hours  before  we 
are  to  vote  upon  this  important  measure,  it  is  sent  to  us.  We  are  not  told 
by  him,  in  his  note  to  the  Speaker  accompanying  it,  that  what  he  transmits 
is  not  the  whole  correspondence,  and  that  he  has  suppressed  and  withheld 
a  part.  The  House,  in  its  eagerness  to  know  the  contents,  directs  it  to  be 
immediately  read;  and,  as  it  is  read  by  the  Clerk,  it  appears  to  be  the 
whole.  The  impression  is  made  that  it  is  complete,  and  continues  until 
after  it  is  printed;  and  then  it  appears,  by  a  great  number  of  asterisks,  that 
parts,  and  doubtless  important  parts,  have  been  suppressed  and  withheld  by 
the  Presia«jnt.  This  was  the  time,  and  the  mode,  and  the  only  mode,  in 
Avhich  the  House  was  informed  that  it  had  been  furnished  with  garbled  in- 
formation. Surely, this  course  of  the  President  reflects  as  much  upon  him 
as  it  is  unjust  and  uncourteous  to  the  House.  But  that  it  has  been  done, 
is  another  argument  in  support  of  the  position ,  that  to  give  this  notice  is  no 
part  of  the  business  of  the  House.  This  important  executive  communica- 
tion reveals  to  us  the  fact  that  the  British  Government  had  twice  renewed 
the  offer,  before  made  to  Mr.  Tyler's  administration, to  arbitrate  this  whole 
controversy;  and  that  both  renewed  offers  were  promptly  and  decidedly  re- 
jected, notwithstanding  the  last  was  m'^ '  -n  a  mode  eminently  suitable  to 
conciliate  the  favor  of  our  Governmetit  and  people.  This  information  the 
President  was  not  bound  to  impart  to  us,  and  he  has  done  so  only  upon 
the  suggestion  of  his  own  high  pleasure.  He  has, in  the  exercise  of  this 
•same  pleasure,  reserved  other  parts  of  the  correspondence,  which,  for  aught 


8> 


we  know,  may  he  still  more  imporlanlnnd  necessary  to  enli4?hten  us.  Awny 
with  ihe  pioposiiion  lliut  it  is  our  alFuir  and  our  duly  to  direct  this  notice ! 
Suppose  Congress  wero  to  provide  for  it,  and  die  President,  as  the  medium 
of  communication  with  foreign  States,  wouUl  not  give  it?  Suppose  that 
the  House  were  to  resolve  that  the  notice  ought  not  to  he  given;  hut  the 
President  and  the  Senate,  having  a  different  judgment;  would  give  it? 
They  could  act  independently  of  the  House;  the  notice  would  be  valid; 
and  we  woidd  have  no  redress  but  to  be  ridicided. 

It  may  be  pointedly  asked,  why  has  the  President  withdrawn  from  the 
decision  of  the  Senate  in  appropriate  Executive  session  this  great  subject, 
and  thrust  it  upon  Congress?  The  answer  is  plain.  There  is  some  cause 
and  fitness  for  it,  produced  by  his  termination  of  all  negotiations  for  the 
settlement  of  the  controversy;  but  still  he  is  not  fully  satisfied  of  its  pro- 
priety, and  especia''y  that  it  will  receive  the  popular  favor.  To  give  the 
notice  would  be  a  bold,  hazardous,  and  experimental  move.  He  is  re- 
solved, if  jiossible,  to  get  up  a  great  and  popular  American  question,  whicli 
will  result  in  his  own  glorification,  and  he  thinks  this  is  the  right  subject 
and  the  right  time.  But  he  shrinks  from  breasting  the  storm  which  he 
hirnself  is  conjuring  up;  and  he  calls  upon  Congress  to  assume  its  respon- 
sibility, to  leap  into  its  perils,  and  ^  aid  him  to  ride  it  grandly.  He  thinks, 
by  making  an  issue  with  a  foreign  nation,  and  particularly  wiUi  England, 
jnembei*8  of  (Jongress  will  be  deterred  from  opposing  his  course,  evea 
though  it  violate  'ruth  and  justice,  and  put  in  peril  the  peace  and  charac- 
ter of  the  country.  He  wants  the  impetuous  weight  of  his  great  maj  vity 
in  the  House  to  beat  down  the  sober  sense  and  calm  purposes  of  the  Senate. 
He  wants  the  arena  of  both  Houses  to  be  irregularly  Hung  open  in  the  face 
of  the  nation,  that  perverted  facts  and  phrenzied  declamation,  sweeping 
wide  in  thunder-tones  from  these  halls,  may  lash  a  quiet  people  up  to  the 
war  fury.  He  is  determined  this  notice  shall  be  given ,  and  knowing  that 
it  could  not  command  the  votes  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate,  he  surreptitious- 
ly withdraws  the  decision  of  the  question  from  the  quiet  and  constitutional 
judgment  of  that  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  treaty-making  power,  and 
throws  it  into  the  stormy  debates  of  Congress.  Here  is  another  instance 
of  the  triumphant  march  of  faction,  headed  by  the  Chief  Executive  offi- 
cer of  the  Government,  upon  the  checks  and  partition  of  power  established 
by  the  Constitution.  The  House  take  part  in  the  atlair  of  a  treaty,  assist 
in  modifying  one  of  its  stipulations;  the  House  "  authorize,"  ''  empower," 
the  President  to  give  this  notice  !  Preposterous  !  That  power  exists  sep- 
arate from  and  independent  of  the  House,  in  the  President  and  two-thirds 
of  the  Senate.  We  may  aid  him  in  doing  violence  to  the  Constitution, by 
dispensing  widi  this  unattainable  majority  of  two-'hirds  of  the  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  treaty-making  power,  but  that  is  all  we  can  effect.  The  no- 
lice  could  be  properly  given  in  defiance  of  all  the  opposition  we  can  make.. 

It  has  occurred  often  that  the  House  has  expressed  its  judgment  oa 
grea^  public  questions  in  the  form  of.  its  separate  resolution.  This  is  pro- 
per, and  often  salutary.  But  unless  the  subject  be  legislative,  and  come 
within  the  scope  of  its  powers,  it  arrogates  no  jurisdiction  over  it;  and  es- 
pecially it  pretends  to  delegate  none  to^  any  other  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment. On  such  occasions  it  professes  only  to  utter  its  own  opinion,  and  to- 
claim  for  it  no  authority  but  its  moral  power.  If  I  now  believed  it  was^ 
wise  and  timely  for  the  House  to  give  utterance  to  :■.    opinion  upon  this. 


■i 

X. 

i 
i 
I 
i 

i 
c 
i 
c 

i 

X 

i 

X. 


I  us.  Awny 
this  notice ! 
he  medium 
jppose  that 
Ml;  but  the 
lUI  give  il? 
1  be  vaUd; 

n  from  tlie 
2at  subject, 
some  cause 
ons  for  the 
of  its  pro- 
Po  give  the 
He  is  re- 
tion,  which 
ight  subject 
)  which  he 
its  respoii- 
He  thinks, 
1  England  7 
urse,  even 
ind  charac- 
it  maj  rity 
he  Senate, 
in  the  face 
,  sweeping 
up  to  the 
awing  that 
rreptitious- 
istitutional 
ower,  and 
!r  instance 
utive  offi- 
established 
eaty,  assist 
mpower," 
exists  sep- 
two- thirds 
itution ,  by 
;o-ord)nate 
The  no- 
can  make.. 
gment  oa 
lis  is  pro- 
and  come 
It;  and  es- 
J  Govern- 
on  ,  and  to 
ed  it  was^ 
upon  this. 


momentous  question ,  I  never  could  or  would  support  any  of  the  numerous 
forms  proposed ;  all  of  which  assume  that  we  have  jurisdiction  over  the 
notice,  and  propose  to  empower  and  direct  the  President  with  the  execution 
of  our  will  m  relation  to  il.  He  wants  neither  out  authority  or  advice;  he 
only  requests  our  endorsement  of  what  he  has  done,  and  what  he  proposes 
to  do.  He  wishes  to  make  instruments  of  us  to  overllirow  the  constitu- 
tional and  impassable  barrier  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  to  his  further  ad- 
vance; and,  for  one,  I  shall  not  consent  to  be  so  used. 

But  this  subject  has  other  interesting  relations,  and  among  the  most  im- 
portant is  the  question  of  the  title  to  Oregon.  It  would  certainly  be  better 
that  this  branch  of  it  should  not  be  discu.'^ed  in  Congress;  but  when  the 
President  has  improperly  obtruded  this  subject  upon  us,  and  his  palpable 
purpose  is  to  bring  Congress  and  the  country  to  tUe  decision  to  fight  for  all 
Oregon,  ihere  is  no  escape  from  an  examitmtion  of  the  point  whether  the 
whole  of  that  country  belongs  to  us.  This  debate  may  produce  niischief 
in  our  relations  with  a  foreign  nalic^  •  U  has  already  produced  vast  mischief 
in  disturbing  the  business  of  the  coiiuUy.  It  was  unnecessary  and  im- 
proper in  its  origin;  it  can  do  no  good  and  all  its  fruits  will  be  evil.  The 
President  and  his  advisers  only  are  responsible  for  it.  Until  the  last  few 
days  of  the  debate  there  has  bee  ».  but  one  fair  and  elaboiale  examination  of 
the  question  of  title.  The  able  gentlemai?  from  Georgia  (Mr.  Toombs)  was 
the  firdt  to  cast  a  broad  light  upon  it.  All  the  gentlemen  who  have  advo- 
cated the  notice,  except  him,  have  not  demonstrated,  but  have  only  assumed 
boldly,  our  title  to  the  whole  country.  He  admits  that  our  title  to  a  large 
portion  of  it  is  liable  to  be  seriously  questioned.  I  propose  to  examine  this 
point  somewhat  in  detail,  as  I  deem  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  imporuint  in- 
volved in  the  debate. 

We  acquired  the  Spanish  title  cf  Oregon  by  the  treaty  of  Florida  in  1819, 
so  that  we  combine  that  with  our  own  previous  right.  The  world  concedes 
that  the  Spaniards  were  the  first  European  discoverers  of  the  northwest  coast 
of  America.  Discovery  of  itself  does  not  give  title  to  a  country;  but,  if  fol- 
lowed up  with  certain  acts  by  the  discoverers,  it  does.  The  principle  of 
national  law  applicable  to  such  cases  is  concisely  but  perspicuously  stated 
by  Vattel,page  *)9: 

"  All  mankind  have  an  equal  right  to  things  that  have  not  yet  fallen  into 
^  the  possession  of  any  one;  and  those  things  belong  to  the  person  who  first 
^  takes  possession  of  them.  When,  therefore,  a  nation  finds  a  country  un- 
■'  inhabited,  and  without  an  owner,  it  may  lawfully  take  possession  of  it; 

*  and,  after  it  has  sufficiently  made  known  its  will  in  this  respect,  it  cannot 

*  be  deprived  by  another  nation.  Thus,  navigators  going  on  voyages  of  dis- 
^  covery,  furnished  with  a  commission  from  their  sovereign ,  and  meeting 
^  with  islands  or  other  lands  in  a  desert  slate,  have  taken  possession  in  the 
'  name  of  their  nation;  and  this  title  has  been  usually  respected,  provided  it 
'  was  soon  after  folloued  by  a  real  possession.  But  it  is  questionable 
'  whether  a  nation  can,  by  the  bare  act  of  taking  possession,  appropriate  to 

*  itself  countries  which  it  does  not  really  occupy,  and  thus  engross  a  much 
'  greater  extent  of  territory  than  it  is  able  to  people  or  cultivate.  It  is  not 
'  difficult  to  determine  that  such  a  pretension  would  be  an  absolute  infringe- 
^  ment  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  and  repugnant  to  the  views  of  Nature. 
^  which,  having  destined  the  whole  earth  to  supply  the  wants  of  mankind 
^  in  general,  gives  no  nation  a  right  to  a^^propriaie  to  itself  a  country,  except 


^0 


for  the  purpose  of  making  use  of  it,  and  not  of  hindering  others  from  de- 
riving advantages  from  it.  The  laws  of  nations  will,  therefore,  not  ac- 
knowledge the  property  and  sovereignty  of  a  nation  over  any  uninhabited! 
countries,  except  those  of  which  it  has  really  taken  actual  possession,  in 
uiiich  it  has  formed  settlements,  or  of  which  it  makes  actual  use.     In 

*  effect,  when  navigators  have  met  with  desert  countries,  in  which  those  of 

*  other  nations  had,  in  their  transient  visits,  erected  some  monument  to  show 

*  their  having  taken  possession  of  them,  they  have  paid  as  little  regard  to 
'  that  empty  ceremony  as  to  the  regulation  of  the  Popes,  who  divided  a  great 
'  part  of  tlie  world  between  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  Portugal." 

Discovery  is  the  first  inception  of  title,  but  it  lapses  unless  followed  up 
within  a  reasonable  time  by  possession.  Grotius  and  some  of  the  earlier 
writers  required  culiivatjpn  in  addition.  Occupancy,  and  the  exercise  of 
dominion,  are  indispensable;  and  if,  after  discovery,  the  country  has  re- 
mained a  long  time  without  them,  it  is  again  open  to  all  mankind.  This 
is  the  law  both  of  God's  providence  and  man's  reason.  Spain  was  unques- 
tionably the  first  European  Power  to  make  settlements  upon  the  northern  as 
well  as  the  southern  division  of  this  continent,  and  at  many  distant  points. 
That  Power,  in  conjunction  with  Portugal,  took  formal  possession  of  the 
entire  new  world — continent,  oceans,  and  islands;  and,  in  perpetuation  of 
it,  erected  monuments  in  numerous  places.  Those  two  nations  afterwards 
divided  this  vast  dominion  l)y  an  imaginary  line  drawn  from  pole  to  pole^ 
and  procured  Pope  Alexander  VI.  to  confirm  it.  Spain,  particularly,  in- 
sisted upon  this  extravagant  claim  for  ages,  but  the  rest  of  the  world  regard- 
ed it  with  contempt ,  and  treated  the  vast  unsettled  regions  of  the  entire 
western  lieniisphere  as  open  to  their  colonization  and  settlements. 

In  1535,  the  Spaniards,  under  Cortez,  sailed  into  the  bay  of  California,- 
and  anchored  in  a  port  now  called  La  Paz,  in  about  the  24th  degree  of 
north  latitude.  In  1543  Ferrello  explored  the  coast  as  far  north  as^  44°. 
In  1596  there  are  some  traditionary  accounts  that  Fuca,  a  Greek  sailor^ 
under  Spanish  colors,  sailed  through  the  strait  now  bearing  his  name,  and 
which  is  situated  between  Vancouver's  Island  and  the  continent,  and  ex- 
lends  from  about  4S°  to  51°  of  latitude.  Vizcaino,  in  1603,  explored  the 
coast  as  far  north  as  43°,  and  then  returned  to  Mexico.  From  that  time 
until  176S,  the  entire  western  shore  of  America,  north  of  Acapulco,  was  al- 
most totally  neglected  by  the  Spaniards.  Their  settlements  upon  it  were 
all  below  the  20ih  degree  of  latitude  until  1770.  In  1702  the  Jesuits  had 
formed  missionary  establishments  on  the  eastern  shore  of  California  bay,  up 
to  about  the  head  of  the  peninsula,  in  latitude  32°;  and  in  1767  they  were 
expelled  from  the  dominions  of  Spain,  even  from  those  distant  possessions. 
In  1769,  their  jealousy  being  then  stimulated  by  the  frequent  voyages  of 
English  and  DiUch  ship^  into  those  seas,  the  Spaniards  again  turned  an 
active  attention  to  this  coast,  and,  between  that  year  and  1774,  sent  out 
several  expeditions  of  exploration  and  setdement,  and  successively  founded 
San  Diego,  Monterey,  and  San  Francisco.  The  last  mentioned  town,  be- 
ing in  latitude  38°  40',  is  the  most  northern  settlement  which  the  Spaniards 
ever  made.  In  1774  Perez,  at  the  head  of  one  of  their  expedition*,  disco- 
vered and  anchored  in  Nootka  Sound,  on  the  Island  of  Vancouver,  in  40  ' 
30'  north,  having  previously  explored  the  coast  as  high  as  54°.  The 
Spaniards  commanded  by  Heceta,  whilst  coiisting  along  in  1775,  dis- 
covered the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river.     He  lay  by  a  day  to  enter  it^ 


11 


lers  from  de- 
fore,  not  ac- 
uninhabited 
ossession,  in 
lal  use.  In 
lich  those  of 
nent  to  show 
ie  regard  to 
I'ided  a  great 


n 


followed  up 
the  earher 

exercise  of 
ntrv  has  re- 

ind.     This 
vas  unques- 

norlhern  as 
<tant  points, 
ision  of  the 
)etuation  of 

afterwards 
ale  to  pole^ 
cularly,  in- 
jrld  regard- 

the  entire 

• 

Oahfornia^ 
1  degree  of 
th  OB.  44°. 
eeic  sailor  y 
name,  and 
u,  and  ex- 
plored the 
I  that  time 
:o,  was  al- 
on  it  were 
esyiHs  had 
lia  bay,  up 
they  were 
Dssessions. 
oyagos  of 
turned  an 
,  sent  out 
/  founded 
town ,  be- 
Spaniards 
m,  disco- 
sr,  in  40  ' 

°:  The 
r75,  dis- 
enter  it;, 


but  was  prevented  by  the  strong  current  which  rushed  out  from  it.  He  gave 
it  the  name  of  the  Rio  de  San  Roque.  He  then  returned  to  Mexico,  hav- 
mg  coasted  up  as  far  as  50°.  In  the  same  year  Bodega  and  Maurella 
reached  as  high  a  point  on  the  coast  as  65°.  These  were  exploring  expe- 
ditions, undei  taken  by  the  Government  of  Spain  with  a  view  to  obtain  par- 
ticular knowledge  of  the  coast,  and  to  assert  her  right  to  it.  At  many  places, 
to  the  extreniest  point  of  their  examinations,  these  explorers  took  formal 
possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  th*^ir  i?overeign,  and  set  up  crosses 
and  other  mementoes  as  evidences  of  his  dominion.  But  no  emigration  or 
settlement  ensued . 

In  1788,Meares,an  English  trader, anchored  in  Nootka  Sound, and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Indian  king,  formed  an  establishment  there  for  the  ren- 
dezvous of  two  or  three  small  ships  in  the  fur  trade.  The  A^iceroy  of  Mex- 
ico learning  this  fact,  in  the  following  year  sent  an  expeflition,  under  Mar- 
tinez and  Haro,  to  assert,  peaceably  and  courteously,  the  paramount  rights 
of  the  King  of  Spain  to  that  place  and  the  adjacent  coast.  Meares  was  ab- 
sent on  a  trading  voyage  to  China  when  Martinez  sailed  into  Nootka  Sound; 
and,  after  some  days'  delay,  the  Spanish  commander  took  possession  of  his 
ships  and  the  place,  and  hoisted  upon  it  the  Spanish  flag.  This  was  a  rem- 
nant of  the  old  Spanish  pretension  to  the  whole  of  North  America.  The 
English  colonies  upon  the  Atlantic  slope  had  pushed  it  to  the  western  shore , 
and  to  the  Pacitic.  But  England,  Holland,  and  France,  never  had  recog- 
nio.d  it  to  extend  righ'fully  beyond  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Spanish 
settlements,  and  had  always  claimed  and  asserted  the  perfect  freedom  of  the 
seas.  They  sent  their  trading  ships  into  the  Pacific,  and  upon  the  coasts 
where  there  were  no  Spanish  colonies,  at  pleasure.  This  sovereignly  which 
Spain  claimed  over  ocean,  and  an  almost  boundless  unpeopled  forest,  was, 
during  the  long  period  that  it  was  set  up,  equally,  and  every  where,  con- 
temned and  disregarded  by  all  the  Powers  of  the  world,  as  their  setUements 
or  trade  brought  them  into  conflict  with  it.  It  was  the  great  distance  of  the 
northwestern  coast  of  America  from  the  business  and  civilization  of  Europe, 
its  being  sparsely  peopled  by  poor  savages,  and  having  no  Spanish  authori- 
ties resident  within  its  wide  limits,  that  deferred  so  long,  and  rendered  so 
rare,  overt  acts  of  resistance  by  other  Powers  to  this  claim  of  Spain. 

In  1740  the  Russians  conmienced  their  expeditions  of  discovery  and  ex- 
ploration on  the  extreme  northwest  coast  of  America.  The  celebrated  Beh- 
ring,  in  that  year,  conducted  an  .vpedition  from  Kamschatka  to  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  this  continent,  and  coasted  along  as  far  as  Mount  St.  Elias^ 
imder  the  60di  parallel.  He  ran  down  south  in  view  of  the  Aliaska  Moun- 
tains in  56°,  and  then  passed  the  Aleutian  archipelago  nearly  under  the 
53d  parallel.  Other  expeditions  were  undertaken,  and  setUements  were 
formed  by  the  Russians,  and  pushed  on  south  in  the  direction  of  the  Span- 
ish power,  but  still  far  distant  from  any  of  its  seats,  under  the  auspices  of 
Catherine  II.  Her  son  Paul,  in  1798,  granted  to  a  Russian  company  the 
entire  use  and  control,  for  twenty  years,  of  die  coasts  of  America  on  the 
Pacific,  from  the  55th  degree  of  latitude  to  Behring's  Strait,  together  with 
the  adjacent  isles.  AH  this  was  in  disregard  of  the  assumed  rights  of  Spain 
to  the  whole  of  the  northwest  coast  of  America;  nor  was  the  march  of  the 
Russian  Power  south  limited  but  by  its  own  will. 

The  English,  under  Drake,  in  1579,  sailed  around  Cape  Horn,  and  dis- 
played their  ensigns  in  the  Western  ocean,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  warring 


12 


against  the  rights  which  Spain  arrogated  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  and 
preying  upon  her  commerce.  He  swept  their  ships  from  the  seas,  and  left 
a  name  terrible  aUke  to  coast,  island,  and  ocean.  He  struck  the  American 
shores  under  the  43d  parallel,  and  coasted  along  until  he  found  a  harbor  in 
about  38.  He  saw  here  no  settlements  or  vestiges  of  civilized  man.  He 
remained  some  weeks,  and  refitted  his  ship;  during  which  time  the  natives 
conferred  upon  hiin  the  country,  and  crowned  him  its  king.  He  received 
its  cession  for  the  benefit  of  his  sovereign,  Queen  Elizabeth,  set  up  monu- 
ments to  perpetuate  the  transaction,  named  the  country  New  Albion,  and 
sailed  for  England.  Cavendish  made  a  cruise  in  the  Pacific  in  1587,  hav- 
ing objects  similar  to  those  of  Drake.  He  lay  in  wait  for  the  Manilla  gal- 
leon Santa  Anna,  near  Cape  San  Lucas,  the  southern  extremity  of  Califor- 
nia, captured,  plundered,  and  burnt  her,  and  left  her  crew  on  the  desert 
coast.  In  his  cruise  he  was  only  less  formidable  to  Spanish  commerce  than 
Drake.  The  opposition  of  the  English  to  these  pretensions  of  Spain,  so 
early  and  vigorously  manifested,  never,  through  thelong  tract  of  time  which 
has  subsequently  ensued ,  in  any  degree  relaxed .  They  were  well  seconded 
by  the  Dutch.  The  Governments  of  both  countries,  with  equal  earnest- 
ness, protested  against  these  inordinate  Spanish  assumptions,  as  being  in 
derogation,  not  only  of  tiieir  own  rights,  but  those  of  mankind.  Their 
traders  never  treated  them  with  any  regard ;  and  when  relations  between 
the  respective  countries  were  at  all  unseuled,  their  cruisers  were  ready  to 
avenge  the  affront  of  the  claim.  But  in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century 
the  British  Government  began  to  give  a  more  serious  and  connected  atten- 
tion to  the  Pacific  and  its  North  American  coast.  In  17T6  an  expedition 
was  fitted  out,  and  that  great  navigator,  Captain  Cook,  appointed  to  its 
command.  He  was  instructed  to  proceed ,  by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  New  Zealand,  and  across  the  Pacific,  to  the  coast  of  New  Albion, 
which  he  was  to  attempt  to  reach  in  latitude  45°.  On  his  way  thither  he 
was  specially  instructed  not  to  touch,  if  he  could  avoid  it,  any  part  of  the 
Spanish  dominions  on  the  western  continent  of  America.  This  enterprise 
was  enveloped  in  some  secrecy  in  consequence  of  the  American  Revolution 
having  just  then  broken  out.  Cook  was  further  directed,  when  he  should 
arrive  at  New  Albion,  to  refit,  and  then  proceed  northward  along  the  coast 
as  high  as  (55'-' ;  and  from  that  point  he  was  to  connnence  a  search  for  the 
nortlnvest  passage  into  the  Atlantic.  All  uninhabited  countries  which  he 
might  visit  he  was  ''to  take  possession  of  for  his  sovereign,  by  setting  up 
proper  marks  and  inscriptions,  as  first  possessors  and  discoverers."  Cook 
made  the  coast  about  the  40th  parallel,  and  commenced  greatly  the  most 
minute  and  accurate  examination  of  it  that  yet  had  beeii  i.^ade.  On  the  7th 
March,  1778,  he  anchored  in  Friendly  Cove,  in  latitude  49^°,  and  re- 
mained there  nearly  the  whole  month  of  April,  refiuing.  He  continued  his 
examinations  of  the  coast  with  signal  perseverance  and  fidelity,  taking  pos- 
session of  the  numerous  places  at  which  he  landed  for  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  and  giving  English  names  to  the  bays,  inlets,  sounds,  rivers, moun- 
tains, and  islands;  and  eventually  reached  a  point  on  the  American  shore 
as  high  as  70°  29'.  Cook  perished  ii\  1779,  on  his  return  voyage  to  Eng- 
land, at  Owyhee,  in  an  aflfray  with  the  natives;  and  the  results  of  his  voy- 
age were  not  made  public  until  after  the. war  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Within  a  few  years  after  the  voyage  of  Cook,  a  considerable  English  trade 
sprung  up  betweeji  the  northwest  coast  and  India  and  China,  carried  on  by 


ion; 


13 


globe,  and 
8,  and  left 
American 
I  harbor  in 
nan.    He 
the  natives 
e  received 
up  monu- 
Ibion ;,  and 
.587,  hav- 
anilla  gal- 
of  CaHfor- 
the  desert 
nerce  than 
Spain,  so 
ime  which 
i  seconded 
il  earnest- 
>  being  in 
.     Their 
between 
ready  to 
St  century- 
ted  atten- 
3xpedilion 
ited  to  its 
)e  of  Good 
w  Albion, 
thither  he 
>art  of  the 
enterprise 
(.evolution 
le  should 
the  coast 
h  for  the 
which  he 
setting  up 
"     Cook 
the  most 
)n  the  7th 
',  and  re- 
:inued  his 
iking  pos- 
of  Great 
rs,moun- 
:an  shore 
to  Eng- 
his  voy- 
5volution. 
lish  trade 
ied  on  by 


the  East  India  Company,  the  South  Sea  Company,  and  private  traders 
with  Portuguese  licenses,  to  evaderthe  monopoly  of  those  corporations;  and 
it  was  prosecuted  from  Nootka  Sound  and  other  points  with  great  activity. 
Meares  made  his  first  adventure  to  those  regions,  with  three  others,  all  under 
the  tljig  of  the  East  India  Company,  in  1786.  His  second  voyage  he  made 
in  1788,  with  Portuguese  papers,  to  escape  the  exactions  and  forfeitures  of 
the  two  great  associations  which  claimed  an  exclusive  monopoly  of  this 
trade;  and  it  was  during  his  absence  with  a  cargo  of  furs  in  China  that  the 
Spanish  authorities  seized  his  remaining  sliips  and  his  establishment  at 
Nootka  Sound,  '  • 

When  the  news  of  this  seizure  reached  England  it  greatly  aroused  the 
Government  and  the  people.     The  most  active  and  powerful  preparations 
were  immediately  made  for  war,  and  Pitt  uemanded  of  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment ample  indemnity  for  the  property,  and  immediate  restitution  of  the 
place  seized,  and  threatened,  if  they  were  withheld,  to  obtain  immediate 
redress  by  the  sword.     The  consequence  was,  the  formation  by  the  two 
Governments  of  the  fambus  Nootka  Sound  treaty.     By  its  terms  the  Span- 
iards stipulated  to  restore  the  buildings  and  tracts  of  land  of  which  Meares 
had  been  dispossessed  by  their  authority ,  to  make  just  reparation  for  the  acts 
of  violence  and  hostility  committed  upon  his  ships,  his  other  property,  and 
establishment,  and  upon  the  persons  of  those  who  had  charge  of  it.     The 
parties  furlher  mutually  "agreed  that  their  respective  subjects  should  not  be 
disturbed  or  molested,  either  in  navigating  or  carrying  or.  their  fisheries  in 
the  Pacific  ocean  or  in  the  South  seas,  or  in  landing  on  the  coast  of  those 
seas  in  places  not  already  occupied,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  their 
commerce  with  the  natives  of  the  country,  or  of  making  settlements  there." 
At  the  time  of  this  treaty  the  most  northern  Spanish  settlement  was  still,  as 
it  continued  ever  afterwards  to  be,  at  San  Francisco,  in  latitude  37^  48'; 
and  by  its  terms  Spain  acknowledged,  in  effect,  that  she  had  no  exclusive 
rights  north  of  this  point;  that  the  British  establishment  at  Nootka  was 
rightfully  formed, and  the  seizure hjy  the  Spanish  authorities  wrongful;  and 
that  the  entire  coast  northward  was  open  to  the  English  subjects,  as  well  as 
to  her  own,  for  navigation,  fishing,  landing,  trading  with  the  natives,  and 
forming  settleiiients.    These  are  the  mutual  rights  which  those  powers  re- 
•cognised  each  other  to  possess  in  the  country  of  Oregon.     They  are  such 
rights  as  are  universally  incident  to  all  uninhabited  vacant  countries,  where 
there  are  neither  settlements,  nor  people,  nor  laws,  nor  officers,  nor  domin- 
ion; and,  in  relation  to  Oregon  at  that  time,  and  all  countries  in  its  then 
•condition,  these  rights  belonged  not  to  England  and  Spain  only,  bui  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  world.     The  earth  is  the  common  heritage  of  mankind, 
the  imiversal  gift  of  a  bounteous  God .     It  is  alike  the  law  of  reason  and  of 
nations,  that  such  portions  of  it  as  are  not  occupied  may  be  appropriated  by 
any  people;  and  Oregon,  in  1790,  when  this  Nootka  treaty  was  made,  hav- 
ing no  people,  no  government,  no  laws,  no  political  authority  of  any  kind, 
but  being  in  a  state  of  unbroken,  unsubiugated,  primeval  solitude,  except 
the  occasional  landing  of  traders  upon  the  coast  to  traffic  with  the  savages, 
and  having  so  continued  for  more  than  two  centuries  since  it  was  first  visited 
by  civilized  man  from  Europe,  was  open  to  any  race  who  might  seek  it  for 
a  home  and  subsistence,  to  establish  their  hearths  and  their  altai's. 

Vancouver,  on  the  part  of  the  English, and  Q,uadraga ,  for  the  Spaniards, 
were  appointed  commissioners  to  superintend  the  execution  of  this  conven- 


14 


tion;  and  the  Spanish  authorities  either  formally  surrendered  Nootka  to  a 
British  officer,  who  was  commissioned  to  receive  it, or  they  informally  aban- 
doned it  in  fulfilment  of  their  stipulations.  They  also  paid  Meares  a  most 
ample  pecuniary  indemnity  for  the  confiscation  of  his  ships  and  property. 
Vancouver  made  the  coast  of  America  in  April ,  1792,  near  Cape  Mendecino, 
He  met  Gray  in  tliose  seas,  and  received  from  him  an  account  of  his  dis- 
covery of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but  did  not  credit  it.  He  struck 
into  Fuca  Strait,  and  there  came  across  Galiano  and  Valdez,  who  led  the 
last  Spanish  exploring  expedition  into  that  region.  Vancouver  united  with 
the  Spanish  navigators,  and  they  conjointly  conducted  the  further  examina- 
tion of  the  strait  through  a  considerable  part  of  it,  when  the  Spaniards  de- 
sisted .  He  continued  and  completed  a  suivey  of  the  whole  strait,  with  all  its 
principal  sinuosities,  and  made  charts  thereof  with  a  degree  of  care  and  accu- 
racy remarkable  for  that  day.  He  gave  English  names  to  most  of  the  objects  of 
interest  noted  in  his  work.  On  his  return  from  the  more  northern  coast ^ 
learning  certainly  that  Gray  had  discovered  the  Columbia  river,  Vancouver 
dispatched  Broughton  to  examine  it.  He  entered  the  Columbia,  and  ex- 
plored it  about  one  hundred  miles  up,  and  named  the  highest  point  which 
he  reached  Vancouver.  He  took  possession  formally  of  both  shores  for  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain . 

In  1792,  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie,  the  superintending  proprietor  of  the 
British  Northwest  Company,  ascended  Peace  river,  from  Athabasca  lake, 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  head  springs  on  their  summit.  Within 
a  half  mile  of  one  of  them,  and  just  across  the  apex  of  the  mountain,  and 
near  the  fifty-fourth  parallel,  he  embarked  on  one  of  the  head  branches  of 
a  river,  which  has  since  been  called  Eraser's  river,  and  floated  down  it  in 
canoes  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  He  then  left  this  river,  and 
proceeded  about  two  hundred  miles  over  land,  and  struck  the  Pacific  at  the 
mouth  of  an  inlet,  in  latitude  52°  20',  which  had  been  surveyed  a  few 
weeks  before  by  Vancouver,  and  named  by  him  Cascade  Canal.  The  most 
northern  sources  of  Frazer's  river  are  about  under  the  parallel  of  56°,  and 
it  disembogues  into  Fuca  Strait  in  or  near  49°.  Its  general  and  very  di- 
rect course  is  from  noith  to  south,  and  it  divides  the  portion  of  Oregon 
nor'Ii  of  49°  into  something  like  equal  parts. 

The  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke,  which  started  for  the  Pacific  m 
1805,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  British  Northwest  Company ,  and  stimu- 
lated it  to  attempt  settlements  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  •'^  that 
year  M.  Laroque  was  dispatched  by  it  to  establish  trading  posts  on  tne  Co- 
lumbia river.  He  failed;  and  in  the  year  following,  1806,  Fraser  was 
sent  on  an  expedition  for  the  same  purpose.  He  followed  the  general 
route  which  had  been  pioneered  previously  by  Mackenzie,  and  established 
a  trading  post  above  latitude  54°  on  a  small  lake,  which  now  bears  his 
name,  and  which  communicates  with  one  of  the  head  branches  of  Fraser's 
river.  Other  settlements  were  formed  in  the  same  country,  and  the  inhab- 
itants and  traders  in  1808  named  it  new  Caledonia.  From  time  to  time 
these  settlements  were  extended  down  this  river  to  near  its  mouth ,  where 
Fort  Langly  was  established.  They  spread  wide  over  the  country,  until 
they  numbered- tweniy-three,  and  dotted,  at  distant  but  consecutive  points^ 
even  the  northern  margin  of  the  Columbia.  They  have  been  uninterrupt- 
edly maintained  to  this  day;  and  no  civilized  people,  except  the  English,, 
have  ever  had  a  post  or  settlement  north  of  that  great  river.    The  laws  of 


Canada 
1820, a 
another 

Let 

Oregon 

graham 

,1788. 

up  to  tl 

'  lunibia 

*  ed  the 

'  Fuca  S 


made 


i 


i 


15 


I^ootka  to  a 

nally  aban- 

ares  a  most 

I  propert)^ 

VIendecino. 

of  his  dis- 

He  struck 

ho  led  the 

mited  with 

r  exaniina- 

uijards  de- 

with  all  its 

e  and  accu- 

le  objects  of 

lern  coast ^ 

Vancouver 

a,  and  ex- 

loint  which 

ores  for  the 

etor  of  the 
)asca  lake, 
it.  Within 
intain,  and 
)ranches  of 
pown  it  in 
river,  and 
icific  at  the 
y^ed  a  few 
The  most 
f 56°,  and 
id  very  di- 
of  Oregon 

Pacific  in 
md  stimu- 
id  -n  that 
n  tne  Co- 
^aser  was 
le  general 
Jstablished 

bears  his 
if  Eraser's 
Lhe  inhab- 
e  to  time 
th ,  where 
Ury,  until 
ve  points^ 
linterrupt- 

English,, 
e  laws  of    . 


Canada  were  extended  over  the  British  settlement  of  Oregon  in  the  year 
1820,  and  man,  in  that  remote  and  still  untamed  land,  has  never  known 

J  another  code. 

Let  us  now  take  a  view  of  the  title  which  the  United  States  set  up  to 
Oregon  previous  to  the  acquisition  rf  the  rights  of  Spain.  Gray  and  In- 
grabam  sailed  from  Boston  on  a  trading  expedition  to  the  northwest  coast  in 
1788.    Gray  spent  the  following  summer  at  Nootka  Sound, and  in  running 

[  up  to  that  port  saw  an  opening  which  was  probably  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia river,  and  which  he  attempted  unsuccessfully  to  enter.     He  explor- 

^  ed  the  coast  east  of  Q,ueen  Charlotte's  Sound ,  penetrated  some  distance  into 
Fuca  Strait,  and  then  returned  to  the  United  States.     In  1791  he  left  Bos- 
ton on  a  second  trafficking  voyage  for  this  shore  of  the  Pacific,  in  the  ship 
Columbia,  and  having  met  with  Vancouver  on  the  coast  informed  him  of 
his  discovery  of  the  Columbia  during  his  previous  voyage;  and  in  May,. 

■  1792,  Ue  again  discovered  the  mouth  of  that  river,  was  the  first  white  man 
to  enter  it,  and  called  it  by  the  name  of  his  ship.  He  sailed  up  the  Colum- 
bia twenty-five  miles,  and  remained  some  days  in  it,  during  which  tim6  he 
made  several  attempts  to  get  back  into  the  ocean  liefore  he  succeeded.  He 
proceeded  to  Nootka  Sound,  gave  information  of  his  discovery  to  the  Span- 
ish commandant,  and  returned  to  the  United  States. 

'  Mr.  JeflTorson  originated  the  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke  before  our 
acquisition  of  Louisiana.  On  the  18th  of  January,  1803,  he  brought  th«5 
subject  to  the  attention  of  Congress  in  a  confidential  message,  and  the  two^ 
Houses  having  approved  of  his  enterprise,  he  commissioned  Lewis  and 
Clarke  to  explore  the  river  Missouri  and  its  branches  to  their  sources,  and 
then  to  seek  and  trace  to  its  termination  in  the  Pacific  some  river,  ''whether 
the  Columbia,  the  Oregon,  the  Colorado,  or  any  other  which  might  offer 
the  most  direct  and  practicable  water  communication  across  the  continent  for 
the  purposes  of  commerce."  It  is  true  that,  when  Mr.  Jefierson  conceived 
and  undertook  this  project,  he  was  negotiating  the "  Louisiana  treaty  with 
Bonaparte  with  every  prospect  of  success;  but  he  never,  nor  any  person,, 
seriously  contended  that  the  western  boundary  of  Louisiana  extended  be- 
yond the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  expedition  of  Lewis  and 
Clarke  crossed  the  Mississippi  in  May,  1804,  and  encamped  in  the  Mandan 
country,  up  the  Missouri,  the  ensuing  winter.  In  the  spring  of  1805  it  re- 
sumed its  explorations  of  the  head  branches  of  that  river,  and  traced  some 
of  tliem  to  their  springs  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Lewis  apd  Clark  passed 
over,  and  at  the  beginning  of  their  western  slope  fell  in  with  the  sources  of 
Clarke  river,  the  great  southern  branch  of  the  Columbia.  They  pursued 
it  down  to  its  confluence  with  Lewis  river,  or  the  northern  branch,  and 
thence  to  where  their  united  streams  disembogue  into  the  Pacific,  and  close 
to  its  beach  they  passed  the  winter  of  1805-'6.  In  the  spring  of  1806  they 
commenced  their  return  to  the  United  Slates.  They  ascended  this  mighty 
river  of  the  Far  West  to  the  Great  Rapids,  and  from  thence  crossed  over 
elevated  plains,  and  struck. into  and  passed  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  two- 
chiefs  here  separated,  each  with  a  division  of  their  company,  and  severally 
explored  some  of  the  tributaries  of  Clarke  river.  They  reunited  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  anjj  brought  this  mn?t  arduous  and  important  ex- 
ploring expedition  to  a  riosc.  From  this  epoch  the  Government  and  people 
of  the  United  Slates  have  claimed  to  have  rights  in  Oregon,  and  have  never 
for  a  moment  abandoned  the  purpose  of  making  permanent  settlements  in. 


16 


■V 


1 


rivev  CO 

it.    In  1808  the  Missouri  Fur  Company  was  fonned,  and,  soon  after,  it  es-  course 
tablished  a  trading  post,  under  the  superintendence  of  Henry,  on  a  branch  issue  wi 
of  Lewis  river.     In  1810  the  Pacific  Fur  Company  was  constituted  in  New  Englan 
York,  under  the  auspices  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  by  it  Astoria  was  found-  first  ent 
ed  in  October,  1811 ,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.     That  place  was  cap-  tlement 
tured  by  the  English  in  the  war  which  immediately  ensued,  and  its  restitu-  to  these 
tion  was  insisted  upon  by  our  Government,  and  made  by  the  English  in  this,  on 
October,  1818,  as  an  American  possession ,  under  a  general  provision  in  the  bia  in  1 
treaty  of  Ghent.     A  short  time  before,  and  in  the  progress  of  the  negotia-  of  ilsco 
tion  which  resulted  in  the  treaty  concerning  Oregon,  in  1818,  between  the  pacific 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Monroe  solemnly  offered  to  terminate  tence  w 
the  controversy  by  dividing  the  whole  of  Oregon  between  the  two  Powers  formatii 
•on  the  forty-ninth  parallel ,  Great  Britain  to  have  in  addition  a  common  right  crease, 
to  navigate  the  Columbia.     By  the  Florida  treaty,  in  1819,  we  acquired  not  to  the  o 
the  territory  of  Oregon,  but  only  such  right,  title,  und  interest  as  Sfffiin  had.  ken  cor 
There  was  no  transfer  of  fortifications  and  other  public  property;  there  was  possessi 
no  exchange  of  authorities j  no  delivery  of  possession  consequent  upon  that  Oregon 
treaty.  facts  mi 

I  have  given  a  rapid,  but,  I  think,  a  fair  and  just  view  of  the  Spanish,  ernmen 
English,  and  American  title  to  Oregon,  as  it  is  to  be  deduced  from  discovery,  and  pos 
exploration,  and  settlement.  The  Spanish  title  has  stood  exploded  for  gen  Americ 
^rations,  by  the  laws  of  nations  and  the  unalienable  rights  of  mankind. 
The  English  disregarded  it  uniformly  for  more  than  two  centuries.  Russia 
made  successive  and  large  encroachments  upon  it,  and  never  definitely  re- 
cognised it  any  where.  The  United  States,  from  the  time  of  Mr.  Jefier- 
«on's  elevation  to  the  Presidency  down  to  the  period  of  the  Florida  treaty, 
always  treated  the  Spanish  title  as  shadowy,  unsubstantial,  obsolete,  of  no 
validity ;  and  even  offered  to  divide  the  country  with  England  without  any 
reference  to  it.     Our  exploration  of  Oregon  with  an  armed  body  of  men, 


continuing  through  two  years;  our  seulements  on  its  ea.stern  and  western 


lions  of 
Is  there 
the  wh( 
title  ove 
Buch  a  1 
an  abse 
But  ( 
eert  tha 
Gray  di 


the  wh 
whom 
demons 
had  dig 
to  enie 
noted  ( 
had  of( 


■confines;  the  capture  of  one  of  these  settlements  by  our  public  enemy  with  by  an  e 
"whom  we  were  at  war;  our  demand  of  its  restitution  under  an  article  of  the  of  a  riv 
treaty  of  peace,  and  its  public  and  formal  re-delivery  <o  our  authorities;  our 
protracted  negotiation  with  England,  in  which  we  asserted  title  to  the  whole 
of  Oregon,  prior  to  Xhe  treaty  between  her  and  the  United  States  in  relation 
to  it  in  1818;  and  our  offer  to  that  Power  to  sever  Oregon  with  her,  with- 
out any  allusion  to,  much  less  the  recognition  of,  any  rights  in  Spain,  all 
utter  the  distinct  and  irreversible  judgment  of  the  United  States  against  the 
Spanish  title.  That  Spain  witnessed  all  this,  and  made  no  complaint,  no 
protest,  and  took  no  measures  to  assert  any  right  to  Oregon ,  proves  that  she  public 
acquiesced  in  the  rightfulness  of  that  ^udgment.  The  manner  and  terms  try  dra 
in  which  she  ceded  this  title  in  the  Florida  treaty,  sUongly  indicate  that  she  versed 
had  ceased  to  attach  any  consideration  to  it.  Our  right  results  from  explo-  site  of 
ration  and  settlements  in  a  vacant  and  unappropriated  country:  the  acquisi-  Englis 
tion  from  Spain  quiets  a  pretended  claim,  but  adds  nothing  to  the  strength  of  try  dr£ 
-title. 

The  position  that  the  British  title  to  the  country  drained  by  Fraser's  river 
is  as  strong  as  ours  to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  cannot  be  successfully 
•controverted.  Suppose  that  England,  instead  of  the  United  States,  had  ob- 
tained this  antiquated  title  of  Spain,  which  never,  in  truth,  had  a  legal  or 
valid  existence;  and.  connecting  that  with  her  explorations  of  the  Eraser 


ed  an( 
source 
mont; 
at  the 
sent  k 


I 


17 


river  country,  her  prior,  many,  and  continued  eettlements  along  the  whole 
m  after,  it  es- course  of  that  stream,  in  exclusion  of  all  other  people,  should  make  an 
,  on  a  branch  igeue  with  us  of  title  to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia:  that  all  the  right  which 
ituted  in  New  England  could  make  out  to  the  latter  country  resulted  from  her  ship  having 
la  was  found- first  entered  the  mouth  of  Fraser's  river,  her  early  explorations  and  set- 
lace  was  cap-  Uemeut  upon  it,  although  lofty  mountains  rise  between  the  two  streams;  and 
nd  its  restitu-  to  these  circumstances  was  added  this  simulation  of  a  title  from  Spain.  To- 
'G  English  in  this,  on  the  other  hand,  we  opposed  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
Dvision  in  the  bia  in  1792;  the  exploration  of  its  sources  and  of  the  stream  for  about  a  third 

the  negotia-  of  its  course,  and  then  a  further  exploration  of  the  country  between  it  and  the 
,  betweeri  the  pacific  in  1793;  the  establishment  of  a  trading  post,  the  first  that  had  exis- 

to  terminate  tence  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  upon  its  head-waters  in  1806,  and  the 

two  Powers  formation  of  others  lower  down  in  180S  and  1810;  their  progressive  in- 
onimon  right  crease,  until  they  numbered  twenty  three,  studded  the  margin  of  the  river 

acquired  not  to  the  ocean ,  and  hud  spread  wide  from  it  over  the  country;  the  unbro- 
s  Sfftiin  had.  ken  continuity  of  these  settlements  from  their  origin;  and  no  other  people 
y;  there  was  possessing  or  having  ever  attempted  to  make  any  settlement  in  that  part  of 
;nt  upon  that  Oregon.  If  we  could  and  did  array  such  a  tide  to  tliis  valley  as  all  these 
facts  make  out  against  the  right  of  England,  as  before  stated,  and  her  Gov- 
the  Spanish,  ernment  were  to  take  the  position  that  "  her  title  to  the  country  thus  held 
m  discovery,  and  possessed  by  us  was  clear  and  indisputable,"  would  it  not  strike  every 
)ded  for  gen  American  with  indignant  amazement  ?  Is  there  a  mind  in  our  twenty  mil- 
of  mankind,  lions  of  people  which  could  be  convinced  that  our  title  was  not  the  best? 
les^  Russia  Is  there  an  American  heart  in  this  broad  land  who  would  noi  prefer  to  peril 
definitely  re-  the  whole  of  Oregon  upon  the  wager  of  battle,  sooner  than  yield  our  solid 
f  Mr.  Jefl^er-  title  over  more  than  half  of  it  to  this  ridiculous  English  pretension?  Just 
lorida  treaty,  euch  a  title  has  England  to  the  country  upon  Fraser's  river,  and  just  such 
solete,  of  no  an  absence  of  title  do  the  United  States  exhibit  to  that  part  of  Oregon, 
without  any  But  other  grounds  and  facts  have  been  relied  upon  by  gentlemeij  who  as- 
ody  of  men,  gert  that  we  have  a  perfect  title  to  all  Oregon.  It  is  assumed  that  Robert 
and  western  Gray  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  in  an  American  ship, and  that, 
enemy  with  by  an  established  principle  of  the  law  of  nations,  the  discovery  of  the  mouth 
article  of  the  of  a  river  enures  to  the  Government  of  him  who  made  it,  and  carries  title  to 
horities;  our  the  whole  country  chained  by  it.  Gray  was  certainly  the  first  navigator,  of 
to  the  whole  whom  there  is  any  rt;ord,who  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and 
IS  in  relation  demonstrated  that  it  wa§  the  debouchement  of  a  great  river.  But  Heceta 
h  her.  with-  had  discovered  it  in  1774.  He  lay  b}'^  some  time  endeavoring  ineffectiially 
n  Spain,  all  to  enter  it,  and  named  it  '^  The  River  San  Roque."  Other  navigators  had 
3  against  the  noted  one  of  the  capes  at  the  mouth,  and  the  coast  north  and  south  of  it 
•mplaint,  no  had  often  been  examined  and  was  well  known.  Neither  is  it  a  principle  of 
ives  that  she  public  law  that  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  a  river  gives  title  to  the  coun- 
!r  and  terms  try  drained  by  it.  The  Spaniards,  under  Hernando  de  Soto,  in  1543,  tra- 
•ate  that  she  versed  die  country  from  Florida  to  the  Mississippi,  striking  that  river  near  the 
from  explo-  gite  of  Memphis,  and,  descending  it, passed  out  into  the  Gulf.  Neither  the 
the  acquisi-  English  nor  the  Dutch  conceded  that  this  gave  title  to  Spain  to  all  the  coun- 
B  strength  of  try  drained  by  the  Mississippi ;  but  both  those  Powers  afterwards  appropriat- 
ed and  settled  sections  of  the  country  in  which  its  head  branches  have  their 
raser's  river  sources.  The  Hudson  has  some  of  its  tributaries  to  take  their  rise  in  Ver- 
successfully  mont;  and  the  English  never  recognised  the  settlement  of  New  Amsterdam 
tes,  had  ob-  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson,  and  the  country  attached , constituting  tlie  pre- 
d  a  legal  or     Bent  State  of  New  York,  as  giving  Holland  the  right  to  \ermont.    The 

the  Eraser 


18 


Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna  have  their  sources  in  New  York;  and  yet 
the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  those  rivers  by  the  English  was  not  nfter- 
•wards  regarded  by  the  Hollanders  as  giving  them  the  title  to  \Vestern  New 
York,  which  was  appropriated  notwithstiinding  by  the  Dutch,  and  became 
a  possession  of  Holland;  nor  was  this  resisted  by  England.  The  French 
discovered  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  settled  Quebec  long  before 
the  English  had  discovered  any  of  its  head  branches;  yet  she  afterwards 
pushed  her  colonies  into  and  held  large  sections  of  the  country  drained  by 
its  tributaries,  without  question  from  France.  Other  cases  as  strongly  in 
•conflici  with  this  assumed  principle  of  the  laws  of  nations  might  be  adduced 
from  the  history  of  the  early  settlement  of  other  portions  of  this  continent. 
Nations  have  contended  for  or  resisted  its  authority  as  their  circumstances 
and  interests  prompted:  it  has  not  yet  been  incorporated  into  their  code. 

Continuity  and  contiguity  have  also  been  relied  upon  to  give  us  title  to 
Oregon.  These  grounds  are  open  to  the  same  objection  taken  to  the  right 
deduced  from  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  a  river.  To  theni,  indeed,  it 
applies  in  unbroken  strength,  as  there  is  no  respectable  authority  that  gives 
to  continuity  or  contiguity  any  such  effect.  In  their  very  nature  they  are 
too  vague  and  indefinite  ever  to  be  adopted  as  rules  to  determine  the  rights 
of  conrticting  empire.  But,  if  their  existence  and  application  were  admit- 
ted, what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  Spain  unquestionably  discovered 
and  made  settlements  before  any  other  European  nation,  both  upon  the 
northern  and  southern  division  of  this  continent.  The  argument  of  con- 
tinuity would  have  given  all  America  to  Spain,  and  have  made  all  other 
nations  that  planted  colonies  on  it  trespassers  upon  her  rights.  Contiguity 
would  confer  Oregon  upon  Mexico,  Russia,  and  England,  in  exclusion  of 
the  United  States,  as  it  binds  upon  their  possessions  also;  and  each  of  these 
powers  had  prior  settlements  nearer  to  it  than  those  of  the  United  States. 

Such,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  the  titles  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
to  Oregon ,  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  them.  These  titles,  in  all  their 
facts,  in  their  points  of  strength  and  weakness,  are  just  as  well  known,  and 
have  been  for  the  last  thirty  years,  to  English  statesmen,  as  they  are  in  the 
American  Congress  or  the  President's  Cabinet.  The  question  arises, should 
they,  in  all  their  details,  be  discusbcd  before  the  American  people  at  this 
momentous  crisis?  The  President  has  repeated,  in  the  most  solemn  form 
to  Congress  and  to  the  world,  that  "no  compromise  of  this  controversy 
which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept  can  be  effected;"  that  he  has  "as- 
;serted  our  title  to  the  whole  of  Oregon ,  and  he  believes  has  maintained  it  by 
irrefragable  facts  and  arguments;"  and  that  ''our  rights  in  Oregon  cannot  be 
abandoned  without  a  sacrifice  of  both  national  honor  and  interest,  is  too 
dear  to  admit  of  doubt."  To  sustain  the  light  of  the  United  States  to  the 
whole  of  Oregon,  which  he  declares  to  be  ''clear  and  unquestionable,"  he 
invokes  Congress  to  stand  by  him  in  taking  the  initiative  of  war.  The 
English  Government  have  heretofore  steadily  refused  us  the  half  of  Ore- 
.^on,  upon  our  propositions  to  partition  it.  Before  we  can  obtain  the  whole, 
we  must  count  upon  an  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure  which  we  have 
never  yet  known.  Where  national  honor  or  manifest  national  right  made 
war  necessary,  I  should  be  as  prompt  to  resort  to  it  as  any  man.  But  as  a 
private  citizen,  and  especially  as  an  American  Representative,  I  never 
would  evoke  this  most  comprehensive  and  terrible  of  all  scourges  as  the 
means  of  seizing  upon  what  does  not  belong  to  us.    The  American  people 


19 


and  yet 
not  after- 
stern  New 
d  became 
le  French 
ng  before 
afterwards 
J  rained  by 
strongly  in 
adduced 
continent, 
umstances 
code, 
us  title  to 
0  the  right 
indeed,  it 
that  gives 
re  they  are 
;  the  rights 
'ere  admit- 
discovered 
upon  the 
nt  of  con- 
e  all  other 
Contiguity 
xclusion  of 
ch  of  these 
d  Sfates. 
eat  Britain 
n  all  their 
nown ,  and 
are  in  the 
ses,  should 
»ple  at  this 
lemn  form 
;ontroversy 
e  has  "as- 
ained  it  by 
I  cannot  be 
rest,  is  too 
tates  to  the 
lable,"  he 
far.    The 
If  of  Ore- 
the  whole, 
h  we  have 
ight  made 
But  as  a 
,  I  never 
jes  as  the 
;an  people 


are  too  just  and  moral  to  tolerate  their  own  Government  in  any  such  mea- 
sure. Though  there  is  no  sacrifice  to  which  they  would  not  submit  in  a 
rightful  cause,  they  would  never  consent  to  pay  the  frightful  cost  of  a  war 
of  wrongful  aggression  with  England.  Such  would  be  a  war  for  all  Ore- 
gon; a  war,  too,  as  impolitic  and  unnecessary  as  unjust;  which  would  prove 
the  greatest  calamity  that  could  befoU  my  country,  and  in  comparison  with 
■which,  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Polk  would  be  a  priceless  blessing. 

According  to  my  opinion,  the  Administration  and  its  friends  have  assumed, 
against  plain  and  incontrovertible  facts,  that  we  have  a  just  and  clear  tide  to 
4x11  Oregon .  This  is  the  important  point,  which  ought  to  be  rightfully  and 
truthfully  decided  before  wc  take  a  position  that  will  render  war  or  national 
dishonor  inevitable .  When  this  great  issue  of  War  or  all  Oregon  is  present- 
ed ,  as  it  has  been  by  the  President,  to  the  American  people ,  they  have  a  right , 
both  from  the  Executive  and  Congress,  to  the  facts,  to  enable  them  to  form  a 
just  judgment.  I  have  no  higher  duty  to  perform  than  to  present  this  whole 
subject,  including  the  question  of  tide,  in  its  naked  truth  and  reality;  and, 
as  far  as  I  can,  1  intend  fully  to  acquit  myself  of  this  duty.  Before  leap- 
ing into  a  yawning  abyss,  I  will  first  attempt  to  look  into  its  terrrble  pro- 
fundity. 

From  the  best  geographical  accounts,  Oregon  comprehends  upwards  of 
four  hundred  thousand  square  miles;  and  the  part  of  it  north  of  the  49th 
parallel  contains  an  area  of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
square  miles,  and  is  five  times  as  large  as  the  State  of  Ohio.  If  my  reeison 
was  convinced  that  the  United  States  had  a  clear  and  indisputable  title  to 
the  whole  of  Oregon,  I  never  would  sanction  any  proposition  to  surrender 
such  an  extent  of  it  to  a  Power  having  no  right  to  any  part  of  it,  for  her 
recognition  of  our  title  to  the  residue.  If  such  be  the  honest  conviction  of 
Mr.  Polk,  and  his  position  thai  the  integrity  of  our  territory  is  so  sacred  that 
this  Oregon  question  cannot  become  the  subject  of  arbitration  be  taken  ia 
good  faith,  how  can  he  stand  justified  for  his  oflfer  to  the  English  Govern- 
ment to  divide  the  country  by.  the  49th  parallel  ?  He  excuses  himself  by 
saying  he  made  his  proposition  to  compromise  the  controversy  "in  deference 
to  what  had  been  done  by  his  predecessors,"  and  especially  in  consideration 
that  propositions  of  compromise  had  been  thrice  made  by  two  preceding 
Administrations  to  adjust  the  question  on  the  parallel  of  49°,  in  two  of 
them  yielding  to  Great  Britain  the  free  navigation  of  the  Columbia;  and., 
as  the  pending  negotiation  had  been  commenced  on  the  basis  of  compro- 
mise, he  deemed  it  to  be  his  duty  not  abruptly  to  break  it  oil".  The  two 
last  of  the  three  propositions  to  which  the  President  adverts,  included  the 
right  of  England  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Columbia,  yet  they  were  all 
firmly  and  absolutely  rejected  by  her.  Mr.  Polk  had  no  reason  to  believe 
that,  in  producing  the  propositioh  again,  even  in  its  most  liberal  form,  it 
would  be  more  favorably  received  by  the  Government  of  Great  Britain.  He 
was  not  hearty  in  making  it,  and  did  so  only  in  deference  to  the  course  of 
his  predecessors,  and  because  the  pending  negotiation  having  been  com- 
menced on  the  basis  of  compromise,  he  deemed  it  to  be  his  duty  not  ab- 
ruptly to  break  it  off.  Yet  Mr.  Polk  withdrew  from  the  proposition;  as  it 
had  been  twice  made  by  his  predecessors,  the  free  navigation  of  the  Colum- 
bia to  England.  Did  he  think  that  the  tendency  of  this  variation  would  be 
to  continue  and  bring  to  a  successful  close  the  pending  negotiation,  which 
had  been  commenced  on  the  basis  of  compromise,  since  he  withheld  so  im- 


portant  a  stipulation ,  which  left  a  proposition  that  could  only  be  presumed 
to  result  in  the  surprise  and  irritation  of  the  English  Governujent ?  Why 
did  he  propose  at  all  to  cede  almost  one  half  of  Orei^on?-  Why  did  he  do 
this,  since  our  title  to  the  large  part  which  he  oirered  to  smrender  was  clear 
and  indisputable,  and  the  territorial  rights  of  the  United  Stales  were  of  too 
sacred  a  character  to  be  the  subject  of  arbitration?  He  says:  "The  right  of 
'  any  foreign  Power  to  Uie  free  navigation  of  any  of  our  rivers,  through  the 
'  heart  of  our  countiy,  was  one  which  I  was  unwilling  to  concede;"  and 
yet  he  proposes  to  give  to  the  English  Eraser's  river,  having  a  course  of  a 
thousand  miles,  and  a  country  five  times  greater  than  the  State  of  Ohio. 

But  the  President  further  tells  Congress:  ''Had  this  been  a  new  question, 
'  coming  under  discussion  for  the  first  time,  this  projwsition  would  not  have 
'  been  made.  The  extraordinary  and  wholly  inadmissible  denuuuls  of  the 
'  British  Government, and  the  rejection  of  the  proposition  made  in  deference 
'■  alone  to  what  had  been  done  by  my  predecessors,  and  the  implied  obliga- 
<  tion  which  their  acts  seemed  to  impose,  aflbrd  satisfactory  evidence  thamo 
'  compromise  which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept  can  be  eirecled.  With 
'  this  conviclion,  the  proposition  of  compromise  which  had  been  made  and 
'  rejected,  was,  by  my  direction,  subsequently  withdrawn,  and  our  title  to- 
'  the  whole  Oregon  territory  asserted,  and,  as  is  believed,  maintained  by 
'  irrefragable  facts  and  arguments." 

If  we  form  an  opinion  upon  the  President's  language,  he  made  this  pro- 
position of  compromise  to  the  British  Government  with  much  reluctance, 
and  would  not  have  made  it  except  that  it  had  been  repeatedly  ottered  by 
his  predecessors.  If  he  felt  at  liberty  to  absolve  himself  from  so  important 
a  term  as  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia,  with  his  convictions  of  our  per- 
fect right  and  of  the  inviolability  of  our  territory,  he  would  have  been 
equally  justifiable  to  have  made  no  overture  to  divide  the  country.  Why 
should  he  make  one  when  the  British  Government  had  thrice  rejected  such 
a  proposition  ?  A  total  omission  on  his  part  would  have  produced  less  sur 
prise  and  dissatisfaction  with  the  British  (government  than  a  reproduction  of 
the  proposition  stripped  of  their  light  of  the  free  navigation  of  the  Colum- 
bia. A  friend  of  the  Administration  (Mr.  Phrston  King^  has  said  in  a 
speech  which  he  made  on  this  fioor,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  that  no 
person  could  have  believed  the  President's  proposition  would  have  been  ac- 
cepted by  the  British  Government;  and  that  it  was  not  made  with  the  ex- 
pectation or  wish  that  it  should  be.  Certainly  this  statement  is  strongly  cor- 
roborated, if  not  clearly  established,  by  the  character  of  the  proposition  it- 
self, and  what  the  President  has  said  in  explanation  of  his  offer  of  it.  It 
does  look  very  much  like  the  President  and  his  Premier  were  not  offering  a 
proposition  for  the  acceptance  of  the  British  Government,  but  were  making 
up  a  case  upon  which  demagogues  might  ^ull  and  inl  ame  the  people.  If,, 
however,  he  has  acted  in  this  business  seriously  and  fairly,  he  must  feel 
greatly  relieved  that  his,  the  fourth  proposition  on  the  part  of  our  Govern- 
ment for  the  compromise  of  this  question  with  England,  has  failed;  and 
now ,  with  his  cotivictio?i8  and  opinions,!  cannot  conceive  how  he  can^ 
•with  the  preservation  of  his  patriotism  and  honor,  ever  agfin  consent  to  so 
large  a  sacrifice  of  the  rights  of  the  United  States  in  Orjgon.  Monroe,, 
Adams ;  and  Clay,  successively,  and  with  the  approval  of  the  American 
people,  made  this  offer;  but  nothing,  save  their  perfect  persuasion  that  the 
title  of  the  United  Slates  to  a  large  portion  of  Oregon  was  involved  in  doubt 


I 


and  unce 
them. 
Messrs.  I 
ministrati 
li^ved  of 
to  settle 
acting  in 
doubt  of 
-^thout  ( 
«lid  inter 
ures  whii 
right  to  t 
on  a  blo( 
even  in  : 
I  should 
above  th 
aggressic 
a  clear  : 
direct  co 
British 
planted 
of  honor 
us  upon 
But  t 
judgmei 
of  the  cc 
be  unav 
If  the  1 
an  unse 
of  lofty 
ocean , > 
Horn ,  t 
gon  woi 
and  we 
quate  t< 
points, 
gon.     1 
man  ey 
parallel 
Alth 
erthele 
British 
distrus 
history 
at  the 
languB 
as  8001 
ufactu 
objecti 
crural 
her  sc 


t 


21 


presumed 

mtl     Why 
(lid  he  do 

[r  was  clear 
Ivere  of  too 
The  right  of 

hroiigh  the 
tede;"  and 

'ourse  of  a 

)f  Ohio. 
k(|iiestion'. 
Id  not  have 
linds  of  the 
li  deference 
led  obliga- 
Jnce  thai  no 
^ted.  With 

made  and 
3ur  title  ta 
Uained   by 

e  this  pro- 
el  uctance, 
ortered  by 
important 

)f  our  per- 

lave  been 

ry.     Why 

ected  such 

d  less  snr 

duction  of 

le  Colum- 
said  in  a 

fj  that  no 

3  been  ac- 

h  the  ex- 

ong-Iy  cor- 

•osition  it- 

of  it.     It 

offering  a 

e  making 

•pie.     If^ 

must  feel 
Govern - 

led;  and 
he  can^ 

ent  to  so 

Monroe^ 

Lmericaa 
that  the 

in  doubt 


and  uncertainty,  if  it  was  not  even  inferior  to  that  of  England,  can  justify 
them.  It  may  be  safely  assumed,  that  they  were  as  wise  and  patriotic  as 
Messrs.  Polk  and  Buchanan;  but  upon  tliis  great  subject,  the  present  Ad- 
miniHtration  must  think  and  act  for  itself,  especially  as  it  is  now  fairly  re- 
lieved of  all  obligation  resulting  from  the  fruitless  effort  of  its  predecessors 
to  settle  this  controversy.  If  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  President  is 
acting  in  singleness  of  heart  and  purpose ;  that  his  mind  is  satisfied  beyond 
doubt  of  our  perfect  title  to  all  Oregon;  that  this  title  to  the  tchole  cannot, 
Wthout  question ,  be  abandoned  short  of  the  sacriffce  both  of  national  honor 
and  interest;  that  this  notice  ought  to  be  given  to  clear  the  way  for  meas- 
ures which  cannot  otherwise  be  adopted  to  enable  him  to  assert  our  perfect 
right  to  the  whole  of  Oregon ,  and  which  will  inevitably  and  speedily  bring 
•on  a  bloody  and  terrible  war  with  England,  I  could  not  nor  I  would  not, 
even  in  a  proper  form,  vole  for  a  resolution  advising  the  notice  to  be  given. 
I  should  be  totally  unwilling  to  plunge  the  country  into  a  war  for  Oregon 
above  the  49th  parallel ,  because  I  believe  it  would  be  a  war  of  territorial 
aggression  and  without  right.  To  that  line,  substantially,  I  think  we  have 
a  clear  and  unquestionable  title,  and  it  would  be  ine  continuation,  in  a 
direct  course,  of  the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  possessions  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Our  Government  has 
planted  itself  so  long  and  so  tenaciously  upon  it  as  to  have  made  it  a  matter 
of  honor  as  well  as  right;  and  whenever  war  becomes  necessary  to  maintain 
us  upon  it,  I  am  ready  to  unsheath  the  sword. 

But  there  are  other  considerations  opposed  to  this  notice,  which,  in  my 
judgment, ought  to  have  great  weight.  If  it  be  given ,  a  peaceable  setderaent 
of  the  controversy,  or  war  about  the  time  of  the  expiration  of  the  notice,  will 
be  unavoidable.  Things  could  not  long  continue  wiUioutone  or  the  other. 
If  the  result  be  war,  we  could  not  possibly  send  military  supplies  through 
an  unsetded  country  of  two  thousand  miles  in  extent,  one-half  consisting 
of  lofty  and  steril  mountains;  and  the  English  having  command  of  the 
ocean,  would  cut  us  off*  from  the  only  water  communication  around  Cape 
Horn,  the  sailing  distance  by  which  is  about  eighteen  thousand  miles.  Ore- 
gon would  be  certainly  and  early  subjugated  and  held  by  a  British  army, 
and  we  could  neither  send  nor  maintain  a  force  on  so  distant  a  theatre  ade- 
quate to  its  reconquest.  We  would  have  to  strike  the  British  power  at  other 
points,  and  mighi  be  forced  to  come  out  of  the  struggle  stripped  of  all  Ore- 
gon. But  if  war  could  be  averted  by  a  settlement  of  the  dispute,  no  sane 
man  expects  more  favorable  terms  than  a  division  of  the  country  by  the  49th 
parallel,  and  thus  we  should  unquestionably  lose  near  one-half  of  it. 

Although  I  do  not  believe  that  we  have  a  perfect  tide  to  all  Oregon,  nev- 
ertheless I  want  all  of  it.  Especially  I  do  not  desire  to  see  it  continue  a 
British  possession .  I  cherish  no  feelings  of  hatred  for  England ,  yet  I  am 
distrustful  of  her  grasping  selfishness  and  her  dominating  propensity.  Her 
history  proves  that  she  never  foregoes  an  opportunity  to  aggrandize  herself 
at  the  expense  of  any  people;  and  though  we  are  so  closely  allied  to  her  by 
language,  by  history,  and  by  blood,  her  onward  and  relentless  spirit  would 
as  soon  make  a  victim  of  the  United  States  as  any  more  alien  nation.  Man- 
ufacturing, colonial,  naval,  and  commercial  supremacy  have  been  the  great 
objects  of  her  ambition  and  her  policy  for  centuries.  Her  throne  has  once 
crumbled  and  been  reconstructed;  a  new  dynasty  has  oftentimes  grasped 
her  sceptre;  she  has  experienced  all  the  vicissitudes  of  peace  and  war;  hec 


9$i 


I 


contending  political  parties  have  met  in  the  fiercest  contests  and  overthrown 
each  other  without  number;  antagonist  ministers  have  encountered  witii  war- 
ring systems,  and  in  the  deadliest  enmity;  her  constitution ,  her  laws,  her  pol- 
icy ,  in  all  else ,  has  been  subjected  to  mutability ;  but  in  relation  to  those  great 
objects  it  has  known  *'no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning."  What- 
ever was  the  nature  or  extent  of  the  revohilion,  just  where  they  were  bft 
did  the  succeeding  power  or  influence  take  them  up,  and  with  the  same 
trueness  and  constancy  press  them  forward.  Whoever  or  whatever  has  as- 
pired to  rule  England,  has  found  that  devoted  service  to  those  great  national 
ends  was  the  law  of  their  being;  and  they  illustrate  the  story  of  all  her  wars 
and  all  her  statesmanship.  Look  at  the  mighty  results  of  a  long  course 
based  upon  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  relations  of  tilings,  both  internally 
and  externally,  and  a  sleepless,  never-ending  exertion  of  the  Government 
and  the  people  to  make  the  most  of  them,  in  promoting  the  manufacturing, 
colonial,  naval,  and  commercial  supremacy  of  England — a  policy  almost  as 
firmly  fixed  as  the  sea-girt  isle  itself.  From  this  small  spot,  almost  unknown 
to  the  ancient  world,  and  which  now,  but  for  the  extraordinary  achieve- 
ments of  her  mind  and  her  courage,  would  hardly  be  observed  by  the  rest 
of  the  world,  in  the  midst,  as  she  is,  of  the  surf  of  the  northern  seas,  has 
sprung  the  most  wonderful  fabric  of  political  empire  that  man  has  ever  rear- 
ed. In  the  annals  of  the  world  there  is  but  one  instance  of  a  nation  exer- 
cising a  great  and  controlling  influence  in  all  the  important  movements  of 
the  affairs  of  every  race  and  country  of  people,  savage  and  civilized,  inhab- 
iting the  globe.  That  nation  is  England,  and  she  directs  the  destinies  of 
mankind.  Her  great  people  have  won  this  pre-eminence  by  the  most  per- 
severing exercise  of  the  highest  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  faculties 
for  ages;  and  when  I  hear  my  countrymen  exulting  in  the  superiority  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  I  turn  to  the  parent  stock,  and,  with  mingled  senti- 
ments of  pride,  gratitude,  and  wonder,  contemplate  the  glorious  manner  in 
which  it  has  vindicated  its  just  title  to  that  distinction.  1  observe  the  wise, 
far-seeing,  noble  constancy  with  which  she  adheres  to  a  system  that  has 
made  her  so  great  and  so  renowned ,  and  then  contrast  it  with  our  fickleness 
and  crudities.  What  a  valuable  lesson  does  the  teeming  experience  and  the 
ripe  wisdom  of  the  mother,  in  this  respect,  read  to  the  daughter,  if  she  would 
but  hearken  to  it.  Let  us  be  true  to  ourselves, and  move  steadily  on  to  that 
greatness  which  destiny  opens  before  us  in  the  future.  An  American  policy, 
wisely  founded  upon  our  peculiar  condition  and  circumstances,  comprehend- 
ing the  proper  protection  of  all  our  great  industrial  interests,  the  general  im- 
provement of  our  physical  condition,  and  the  perfect  evolvement  of  our  vast 
and  still  slumbering  resources,  ought  to  be  the  one  great  object  of  our  peo- 
ple and  our  statesmen.  Whoever  sets  himself  against  such  a  system  should 
"fall,  like  Lucifer,  to  rise  no  more." 

This  North  America  is  our  own  world ,  and  time  will  enable  the  Anglo- 
American  race  to  occupy  it,  and  to  outstrip  far  that  older  one  which  our  an- 
cestors left  behind ,  if  ihr*  race  be  but  true  to  itself.  Our  system  is  one  of 
peace  and  progress.  There  will  be  no  restriction  to  our  conquests  and  achieve- 
ments, whilst  they  continue  to  be  bloodless.  On  the  defence ,  too,  we  would 
have  resources  equal  to  the  assault  of  the  combined  Powers  of  the  earth. 
The  greatness  of  the  exterior  pressure  would  act  upon  our  union  as  upon  an 
arch,  adding  to  it  compactness  and  strength.  Military  aggression  on  our 
part  would  result  in  dismemberment  aud  ruin.    Ic  is  to  our  injury  and  in- 


■ecunty 
coniinci 
-possess  i 
bide  thf 
jmarked 
we  niui 
inactivi 
<'wiae  a 
'declariti 
near  thi 
4n  that 
«ettlem( 
©f  sever 
«nd  dur 
iward. 
ierable . 
the  swe 
<len3  of 
tection 
give  the 
derness 
would 
'Conflict 
^addition 
dettlers, 
Thei 
intrinsic 
gress  of 
«hould  1 
iferay  ? 
4Utle.     ] 
liind  the 
Ihe  mos 
k  there 
•what  go 
•ure ,  pr 
;vince  m 
jhall  hn 
gested  i 
settlers, 
ated  by 
them . 
people, 
the  i\oo 
and  flo\ 
ments  \ 
ng  Am 
most  ha 
English 
Diore  ii 
The  dii 


23 


I  overthrown 
sd  with  war- 
uvs,herpol- 
0  those  great 
ig."  What- 
ey  were  laft 
th  the  same 
ever  has  as- 
eat  national 
all  her  wars 
long  course 
h  internally 
jovernment 
lufactiiring^ 
cy  almost  as 
St  unknown 
jry  achieve- 
by  the  rest 


■ecurity  fo*-  any  European  Power  to  be  strongly  felt  in  the  concerns  of  thi» 
continent;  and  it  is  in  the  course  of  things  that  all  of  them  will  lose  their 
.pos8e8?ions  and  influence  here.  What  the  United  States  have  to  do  is,  to 
bide  their  time,  and  await  the  natural  development  of  events.  Nature  haa 
parked  out  the  limits  which  we  are  to  occupy,  and  they  are  so  ample  that 
iwe  must  grow  a  long  time  and  much  to  fill  them.  In  relation  to  Oregon, 
anaciivity  on  our  part,  except  natural  progress,  would  certainly  have  been 
*  <  wise  and  masterly . ' '  The  treaty  between  England  and  the  United  States , 
^declaring  Oregon  to  bo  open  to  the  people  of  both  countries,  has  existed  for 
'Hear  thirty  years.  When  it  was  made  there  was  not  an  American  emigrant 
4n  that  country.  It  is  only  since  1843  that  our  people  have  begun  to  form 
settlements  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  now  (hey  number  upwards 
cf  seven  thousand  souls.  Last  year  the  emigration  exceeded  four  thousand , 
find  during  the  present  it  is  not  doubted  that  a  larger  wave  still  will  roll  west- 
iwurd.  On  the  contrary,  the  increase  of  the  English  population  isinconsid- 
ierable.  We  now  have  thousands  where  they  have  hundreds;  and,  whilst 
the  swell  of  their  numbers  would  be  barely  perceptible,  ours  would  become 
lens  of  thousands.     Oui  policy  was  to  throw  the  cegis  of  our  laws  and  pro- 

rn'seas,  has    Section  over  these  pioneers,  to  erect  posts,  and  have  mounted  riflemen  to 

aseverrear- 


lation  exer- 
jvements  of 
zed,  inhab- 
destinies  of 
e  most  per- 
jal  facuUies 
iperiority  of 
ngled  senti- 
I  manner  in 
/e  the  wise, 
em  that  has 
ir  fickleness 
nee  and  the 
F  she  would 
ly  on  to  that 
ican  policy, 
)mprehend- 
general  im- 
.  of  our  vast 
of  our  peo- 
item  should 

the  Anglo- 
ich  our  an- 
m  is  one  of 
nd  achieve- 
,  we  would 
f  the  earth . 
as  upon  an 
sion  on  our 
iry  and  in- 


give  them  security  against  the  Indians  on  their  journeying  through  the  wil- 
derness, and  to  postpone  this  question  with  England.  Time  and  emigration 
would  certainly  have  conquered  the  whole  of  Oregon  for  us.  Or,  if  the 
^conflict  of  arms  for  it  should  be  brought  on,  each  year  would  give  important 
^additions  to  our  military  power  there,  by  the  increase  of  the  brave  and  hardy 
kettlcrs,  of  agricultural  productions,  and  the  means  of  subsistence. 

The  strength  of  all  claims  of  a  nation  upon  others  depends  not  upon  their 
intrinsic  justice,  but  its  abihty  to  maintain  them;  and  when  the  rapid  pro- 
gress of  things  is  greatly  to  increase  ours,  both  generally  and  locally,  why 
would  we  hasten  to  bring  on  a  crisis  with  England  in  this  Oregon  contro- 
irersy?  Every  day's  delay  adds  strength  to  us,  and  consequently  to  our 
litle.  Her  statesmen  and  her  press  perceive  this  to  be- the  posture  of  affairs, 
iiind  therefore  desire  a  prompt  settlement  of  the  question.  The  present  is 
Ihe  most  favorable  time  for  her;  each  revolving  sun  makes  it  less  so.  What 
■lb  there  now  to  render  this  notice  so  urgent  for  us?  What  important  end, 
what  good  do  we  expect  to  accomplish  by  it  ?  We  will  certainly  defeat  those 
sure,  progressive,  and  peaceable  advantages  to  which  I  have  referred.  Con- 
vince me  that  our  interests  or  honor  requires  the  notice  to  be  given,  and  it 
Jihall  have  my  prompt  approval.  Almost  the  only  ground  for  it  even  sug- 
gested is  an  apprehension  of  collisions  between  the  American  and  English 
settlers,  and  this  controversy  should  be  settled  and  the  inhabitants  be  separ- 
ated by  the  ascertained  territorial  boundaries  of  the  two  nations  to  prevent 
them.  The  Columbia  divides,  and  would  continue  to  separate,  the  two 
people,  imtil  the  southern  part  of  Oregon  was  comparatively  filled, and  then 
the  flood  of  American  population  would  break  over  this  great  natural  limit 
and  flow  up  to  the  Russian  border.  The  almost  stationary  English  settle- 
ments would  before  many  years  be  displaced,  or  be  merged  into  the  teem- 
ng  Americari  family.  The  two  people  have  yet  had  no  collision,  and  a 
most  harmonious  and  neighborly  spirit  seems  to  exist  between  them.  The 
Englishmen  are  so  few  even  now,  and  are  so  rapidly  becoming  relatively 
more  inconsiderable,  that  they  could  not  produce  any  serious  difficulties. 
The  disputed  territory  on  the  portheastem  boundary  had  within  it  for  a  great 


11 


,1 1 


many  years  both  English  and  American  settlements.    They  were  in  diffeti 
ent  sections  of  the  country,  and  got  along  quite  u"nicably .     The  only  disj 
turbances  resulted  from  the  conflict  of  the  civil  authorities  of  Maine  and  New] 
Brunswick;  and  in  Oregon  similar  occurrences  would  be  avoided  by  the] 
laws  of  the  United  States  operating  exclusively  upon  our  citizens,  and  those 
of  Canada  upon  British  subjects.     But  if  these  local  difficulties  should 
spring  up  and  threaten  the  peace  of  the  country,  it  would  be  time  to  thinii 
of  a  remedy  when  they  were  present;  their  anticipation  is  certainly  a  ven 
insufficient  reason  foi  now  giving  this  notice.    Things  have  been  in  theii 
present  condition  for  a  whole  generation,  except  the  great  improvemen 
which  the  last  few  years  have  made  for  us:  why  should  v/e  court  war  b) 
making  so  important  a  change  in  them  ?    It  will  be  averted  if  this  notice  h , 
withheld;  and  if  such  would  be  the  consequence  without  any  injury  to  na 
tional  interests  or  national  honor,  by  all  the  right*'  of  humanity  let  it  b 
done.     It  is  probably  our  fate  to  have  another  wai  with  England,  but  leti 
be  kept  off  until  it  become  necessary.     We  are  now  much  more  equal  to  i 
contest  with  her  than  we  were  in  1812;  and  when  another  comes,  if  corn* 
it  must,  I  want  every  advantage  that  intervening  growth  and  resources,  poi 
sition,  circumstances,  and  a  forecaste  of  it  can  give  us.     1  desire  my  coun' 
try  then  to  be  in  such  strength  and  condition  that  we  will  be  able  to  mee  i 
and  vanquish  her  at  every  point  on  this  continent.     Whtn  we  unsheath  th  I 
sword  against  her  again,  come  it  soon  or  come  it  late,  if  it  be  in  my  time, 
will  be  opposed  to  returning  it  to  the  scabbard  until  we  drive  her  from  tli 
shores  of  America  to  her  island  home.     I  have  a  great  horror  of  war,  and 
want  but  one  more  with  England,  and,  so  far  as  the  subjugation  of  her  col 
onial  power  in  America  could  remove  cause  of  future  wars,  I  would  go  fc 
it  at  any  cost  of  blood  and  treasure  and  suffering.     Demagogues  are  th 
devils  of  Republics,  and  faction  their  multiform  curse.     These  are  the  mi; 
chievous  influences  that  have  so  untimely  agitated  this  question,  to  jeopai 
the  peace  of  the  country  and  blast  its  prosperity:  devotion  to  national  inteii 
ests  and  honor  are  but  hollow  pretexts.     If  war  do  now  ensue  from  th 
Oregon  question ,  it  will  fix  upon  those  who  rule ,  both  in  England  and  i 
the  United  States,  a  great  and  horrible  crime.     If  it  were  a  law  of  man 
destiny  that  those  charged  with  the  affairs  of  nations,  who  sport  with  tli , 
lives  and  happiness  of  millions  to  minister  to  the  lust  of  their  own  crimiii;  | 
ambition,  were  to  be  the  first  to  meet  the  miseries  and  slaughter  of  wa  *^ 
what  an  incalculable  amount  of  wo  would  the  world  have  escaped!     Sue 
an  ordeal  would  at  this  conjuncture  save  both  nations  from  the  ravages  i 
this  grim  Moloch!  , 


•t.i    !. 


VJ         r 


■  '■  - .  I 


.,','(•• 


were  in  differ- 
The  only  dis , 
[aine  and  New 
Lvoided  by  the 
;ens,  and  those 
culties  shonlc 
!  time  to  thinli 
ertainly  a  ven 
J  been  in  theii 
L  improvemen 
!  court  war  b} 
f  this  notice  h 
r  injury  to  na 
nanity  let  it  b 
jland,  but  leti 
lore  equal  to  i 
Dmes,  if  com 

resources,  po 
jsire  my  coun 
>e  able  to  met 
'e  unsheath  th 

in  my  lime, 
e  her  from  tli 
t  of  war,  and 
Lion  of  her  col 
1  would  go  fc 
Lgogues  are  th 
se  are  the  mi; 
ion,  to  jeopar 

national  inte 
jnsue  from  th 
England  and  i 
a  law  of  man 

sport  with  til 
r  own  crimin; 
lughter  of  wa 
scaped!  Sue 
I  the  ravages  i 


\ 


